


Betrayal

by Frogman417



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, BBTerra - Freeform, Drama, F/M, Romance, bbrae - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 19:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16165058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frogman417/pseuds/Frogman417
Summary: After the loss of Terra, we follow Beast Boy as he tries to move on, all while keeping up with the life as a Titan. It just becomes more difficult when a part of him starts to awaken and Slade looks to take advantage, but there is a certain someone in the Tower that can help him in all of those ways, but he'll have to find her.





	1. A Return Home

Emotion. Beast Boy couldn't exactly pinpoint what emotion was wrecking him, but oh boy was it. Maybe it was a bundle of them. No matter what it was, it caused tears to run down his cheeks and the mutant could barely contain his whines. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and realize this was all some horrible nightmare caused by eating too much pizza, but it wasn't. The pain he was feeling was all too real and no combination of transformation could stop it.

 _Terra..._  Was all Beast Boy could think of. Even with Slade telling him of the destruction of his home and his friends, all his mind could process was the loss of Terra. The hatred on her face as she went into the shadows with that damned Slade, it hurt worse than anything he had ever got hit with, and he got hit a ton.

But... Beast Boy couldn't stay moping forever, some bystanders were pointing and chattering among themselves about the green-skinned mutant, police were starting to come to the site of the fight between him and Slade, and the last thing the Titan needed right now was another confrontation. Quickly transforming into a hawk, he flew far away from the wrecked carnival, his beady eyes noticing every single attraction and ride he had been with...

"Knock it off!" He angrily told himself, "She's nothing to me now!" Beast Boy tried to tell himself, scratching for anyway to make himself feel at least a tiny bit better. His wings flew himself far far away from the carnival until he landed in a park, thankfully with no one around this late at night. Sirens rung behind Beast Boy, who was able to tell it was both police and ambulances driving to investigate the scene.

As he reverted back into his human form, his face was still wet with his grief, body rapidly shaking and hands balled up in fists. "Why?! Why her?!" Beast Boy screamed, his fists reaching up and slamming down onto a bench, shattering it into several pieces. His hands stung in pain, and some shrapnel has pierced his gloves and dug into his fingers and palms. The teen however hardly noticed, looking to destroy more to try and stop that raging feeling inside of him.

"Stupid Slade! He ruined everything!" Beast Boy yelled, swinging a high kick towards a lamp posts and knocking it down several yards away. "Everything was going great! And then he came in and ruined it all!" His human body still had its limits however, and a punch to a tree also sent a wave of pain throughout his hand and arm, enraging him even more.

Transforming into a rhino, the mutant huffed and charged forward, knocking down several trees and sending them flying across the paths, some even falling onto the streets. He looked for as much as he could to destroy, trees, bushes, statues, benches, just... anything. His transformations were rapid, shifting from gorillas to elephants to even dinosaurs.

Panting, the boy looked around once his body just could not continue. The park wasn't recognizable by the time Beast Boy was done. Most of the grass had been ripped from the ground thanks to his constant stomping, the paths had been wrecked for the same reason, it was pitch black due to the lights all being destroyed, and no tree remained standing. All that was left of the park was the fence that bordered it. He... hated it. What had he done...?

Of course, people started to notice the chaos, and the sirens started to ring in his ears once more. The park was located next to a drive-thru and a gas station, both of which open 24 hours. Beast Boy heard the sounds of children crying and his teary gaze looked to see a mother and father standing over a stroller, pure terror on their face.

"No..." Beast Boy uttered, his eyes wide and mouth gaped. This wasn't what he wanted! "Look, I'm-" His attempted apology was cut off by the sounds of several pistols being aimed at him. "Freeze, you animal!" Was the order he was given by one of the officers at the scene, and Beast Boy turned to see at least a dozen men in blue aiming their weapon at him.

Some part in the Titan wanted to surrender and hope some time in prison could sort out what he was going through, some part in him wanted to run and never be seen again and... some part in him wanted them to... fire at him and end the mental torture he was going through.  _Who would stop Slade then?_  Beast Boy thought to himself. If his friends were truly vanquished, then who would step up and stop Slade... and Terra... from conquering the city?

So quickly, Beast Boy raised his hands, lowering his head to face the ground which seemed to please the officers, and he could hear a few footsteps heading his way. "Good... wait, aren't you apart of the Teen Titans?" One of their voices asked him, which only ripped into him even more. Soon enough, Beast Boy could see their feet, and that was when he transformed into a mole and dug into the ground, burrowing his way underground and to safety, leaving the officers shocked.

He dug and dug, until after several minutes, he poked his head up and looked around. No sign of the police, so Beast Boy climbed all the way up and quickly he knew exactly where he was. Pizza place, one of his favorite places in town. But even the huge sign of the delicious pizza couldn't cheer up Beast Boy. All it did was remind him of the times he, the gang and Terra came here, having a blast and making him actually believe that she cared for them...

Beast Boy was exhausted, his muscles were sore and his brain wanted nothing more than a rest. But he knew he couldn't stop. The police would be looking all over for him, and they'd catch him rather quickly if he fell asleep at one of the tables of the restaurant. There was one place he'd be safe though. Titan Tower. It may all be rubble now, but it was the only place where the police couldn't go. It was a safe haven for the Titans... or it use to be.

The rest of the night was spent slowly walking to where he could swim to the island where the tower was, while also dodging police. It was embarrassing, having to hide behind dumpsters and cars to avoid the police, but if there was any chance of trying to stop Slade, Beast Boy needed to not be in jail, plus maybe there were some things he could find in the rubble of the tower that would help. It was long, it was tiring and it was painful, but finally, Beast Boy made it.

Now all between him and the tower was water, and Beast Boy wasn't going to stop. Jumping into the water and transforming into a swordfish, he swam as fast as his aching body could, though the cool water helped some. In comparison to his long walk, the swim across the lake to the island felt like it was done in a second.

And somehow, Beast Boy didn't notice before, but the Tower was still standing! Windows were shattered and some walls were busted open... but it was standing! It brought some enthusiasm to Beast Boy, but he made sure not to get his hopes up, maybe Slade just wanted the Titans...

Walking to the entrance only to find the doors blasted open, there were several Robot Commandos laying next to the broken down doors, a few sparks still jumping around from their exposed wiring. "Uh... hello! Guys?!" Beast Boy shouted, hoping for any sort of response, be it Starfire's gleeful voice, Cyborg's loud voice, Robin's commanding voice, even Raven's mellow tone, but nothing...

"Hey! Guys, it's Beast Boy!... Ya know, the guy that turns into all the animals!" Beast Boy tried to add some of his usual giddiness to his voice, hoping maybe then they'd answer, but again, nothing.. Walking forward, he almost couldn't recognize the place. It was just a giant mess of robot bodies and a clear sign of a long-fought fight being held, given how many things were destroyed or at least in a poor state.

Soon, Beast Boy looked down to find a familiar piece of clothing. A green glove, no doubt belonging to Robin, but the question was... where was Robin? Hugging the glove to his chest, Beast Boy was about to break down again when he heard the sound of one of the doors opening next to the kitchen. "You think we got them all?" The familiar voice of Robin was heard, followed up by Cyborg saying "We've checked everywhere, we surely would've found if any of them were left.."

"Beast Boy!" The sound of Starfire's surprised gasp was the first to alert the gang just who had arrived as the sun was beginning to rise. And it took a few seconds for the rest to react as Starfire flew over and gave Beast Boy a near death squeezing hug. "Oh Beast Boy, you're returned! We were so worried that Slade had gotten his dirty, dirty hands on you!" Her overly cheerful voice, while usually annoying, was nothing but soothing to the mutant, who tried to return the hug the best he could, but it was a difficult task with the Tamaranean's immense strength smothering his torso and arms.

All of his troubles seemed to fade away as the rest of the gang walked up, Cyborg giving him a hard slap to his back and Robin looking rather relieved, all while Raven showed little emotion as usual, but there was a hint of a smile there. "Yeah, we couldn't find you in your room and your window was open, we thought.." Robin spoke, soon cutting himself off and looking towards the glove in Beast Boy's hand. "Hey, was looking for that.." He chuckled, snatching it and quickly putting it back on.

"Where's Terra?" However, those words from Raven just brought Beast Boy down once more, and he almost even fell over, having forgotten about what had happened last night until those words hit him like a truck. "Yeah, we couldn't find her either, were you two together?" Cyborg probed, looking down at the green mutant who was trying to fight back emotion.

A few moments of silence filled the room with Beast Boy trying to find the words to explain what had happened, if he even SHOULD tell them, all while trying to keep his emotions in check. "Terra..." Beast Boy uttered, that night flashing throughout his head, how good it was, the things they did, and then it all went downhill. "Is our friend okay?" Starfire's words didn't help, Beast Boy singling out the word 'Friend', flashing him back to what was the last thing he told her.  _"Slade is right, you don't have any friends."_

He was angry when he said that, he felt betrayed, he didn't mean it. All he wanted was to be Terra's friend... to be more than just that.. It was tearing him apart, and soon enough Beast Boy collapsed to his knees, his head in his palms. "Beast Boy..." Robin somberly said, looking down at him with a frown on his face.

The one to actually step up to him however was the quiet Raven, who was watching it all with her usual resting face. He could feel the soft touch of her hand on his shoulder, and looking up, Beast Boy could see her, looking actually concerned. "Beast Boy, it may be tough, but if we're going to help her, we have to know everything you know.." Her voice helped the green-skinned teen a bit. There was always a bit of affection that Beast Boy had for Raven, knowing that beyond her stone-cold outerior, there was something special inside of her. But then Terra came along and...

"Start from the beginning, why were you two not here when Slade's lackeys attacked?" She asked, and Beast Boy nodded his head.

"I had asked Terra out... on a date, and.. We went out of town, had some good meals, saw good sights..." His initial statement seemed to shock the group, Cyborg wide-eyed and a blush crossing Starfire's face, while Raven only raised a brow. "Then we went to a carnival, and... it was so fun.. She opened up to me and I opened up to her, we told each other things we haven't told anyone else... it all seemed to be doing great.."

Beast Boy soon trailed off, as if trying to remember what happened next, but he knew what happened next all too well. "That all sounds nice and dandy, Beast Boy, but what happened next?" Cyborg asked him, and he could only sigh in response. "Slade showed up."

"We were on the ferris wheel, it was going to be a magical moment, but then he showed up and ruined everything.." Beast Boy angrily gripped Raven's cloak, his teeth bared for a moment as he remembered that cold, sadistic voice of the masked villain. The way he talked down to both him and Terra. He never felt the desire to kill a human before, but in Slade's case... he wouldn't hesitate. "A magical moment? How was it magical? Did Terra have any new powers?" Starfire's oblivious tone only made Beast Boy angrier. "Star..." Raven only growled, shooting her a quick glare before looking back at Beast Boy.

"What happened after that?" Robin asked, joining Raven in kneeling in front of the stressed mutant, who was slightly comforted by the presence of the two. "I fought, I tried all I could to protect Terra, but.. He was too strong, so once there was a gap between us, Terra and I ran.." His somber voice explained, ashamed of himself, "Maybe if I had stayed and fought, I could've beaten him, but I was afraid he would hurt Terra. I didn't want to risk it.."

"There's no shame of retreating, Beast Boy..." Raven tried to explain to him, but Beast Boy cut her off. "Yes there is! I could've stopped him, put an end to everything, but I was scared... Terra would've probably still been with us if I hadn't been such a coward." He angrily told himself, a fist bunching up and hitting himself in the face.

"Still with us? As in... she isn't anymore?" Starfire once again spoke, Beast Boy shaking in grief with his eyes watering once more. "Slade... what did he do to her?!" Robin now spoke up, anger in his tone, Beast Boy feeling a tight grip on his other shoulder. Moments of silence once more filled the room, as he couldn't find the energy to continue.

"Beast Boy, talk to us! We need answers here!" Robin once again talked, this time much more assertive in his tone, feeling those gloved fingers tighten on his arm. Beast Boy knew the rivalry between Robin and Slade, and he really wanted to help, but it was just tearing him up inside, his mouth opened but nothing came out.

"Beast-" Robin wanted to pry some more, but thankfully Cyborg grabbed him by the cape and dragged him a few feet away. "He doesn't need to be interrogated right now, look at him!" The largest of the Titans growled down at his leader, pointing at the near sobbing wreck that was Beast Boy.

"But-" "He's never going to talk if you just yell at him, so shut up and let me handle it!" It was Raven's turn to interrupt Robin, a certain ferocity in her voice that caught the former sidekick off-guard. "Yes, Beast Boy, we're here for you, take your time." Starfire comforted him, and Beast Boy just signed and rested his head on Raven's shoulder.

"We... ended up at a dead end, and that's when he trapped us inside a mirror room.." Beast Boy slowly continued, his breaths accelerating. "Slade talked down to me... to Terra... I wanted nothing more than to just shut him up. And.. that's when Terra revealed to me that.."

 _She betrayed us..._  Was what Beast Boy wanted to say, but he just couldn't force it out, still being unable to comprehend why she would do it to them, to him... But looking at his friends, the concerned looks on all their faces, they had to know, no matter how much it pained him to say.

"She betrayed us.." He finally let out, a weep escaping Beast Boy's mouth, falling to the ground with his hands covering his face. "What? Are you sure?" Robin asked, with Cyborg himself in enough shock to let the prying questions of Robin pass. "Maybe you had misheard her?" Starfire asked, though the look on her face showed that she herself didn't believe that.

"Slade said she had disabled the Tower's security, to let Slade's lackeys destroy us, I.. couldn't believe it either. I didn't want to." Beast Boy continued, looking up to see the shocked look in Raven's face, matching the surprise in Cyborg, Robin and Starfire's faces. "That explains how they got in without us knowing, but... why did she try to spare you?" Cyborg asked, his robotic hand releasing Robin's cape, letting him crawl forward to Beast Boy.

"Maybe she didn't mean to disable the security, she could've disabled it on accident when going out with Beast Boy." Starfire frantically searched for an answer that would make Terra innocent and the changeling was finding himself hoping for it, somehow, to be true in any sort of way, but no one was buying it. "She would have to have tried to disable it, it's not a button you accidentally press." Robin explained, a hand rubbing the back of Beast Boy in an attempt to comfort him.

"Did she say why she did it?" Robin pried, only leading Beast Boy to shake his head. "Sl-Slade said he was her mentor, the one to teach her how to control her powers... the only place where she truly had a home.. The only one she cared for.." The mutant sobbed, a fist repeatedly slamming onto the ground where he laid, his tears beginning to wet the floor where his hand hit the ground.

"Beast Boy, I'm... sorry, really, but is there anything else you can tell us?" Cyborg was the one to try and comfort Beast Boy this time, having never seen his friend so... sad before. Even in the darkest of times, Beast Boy usually had a joke up his sleeve, but nothing.

"...She tried to apologize to me, but I was just so angry. I thought Slade had... killed all of you. I was mad, I told her that I wasn't her friend anymore, and she disappeared into the shadows with Slade." Beast Boy somberly explained, not daring to look up and show his friends the extent of his grief. "I'll never forget the last look she gave me. It was... hatred. Towards me. She hates me."

"I see... Cyborg, reactivate the security system, I wouldn't put it past Slade to send even more lackeys towards us. Starfire and I will try our best to clean up, Raven, take Beast Boy to the SIck Bay. He looks worse off than any of us." Robin handed out orders, and that was when Beast Boy started to notice how messed up he was. Shards of wood and glass had pierced his gloves, lodged in his hands, several bruises were on his torso and there was even a cut on his arm, blood staining his sleeve.

"Alright, come on Beast Boy.." Raven sighed, helping Beast Boy back up on his feet, assisting him in walking by putting his arm over her shoulders. "Just letting you all know, the alarms are going to go off once I turn back on the security system since the walls, windows and doors have been busted open." Cyborg yelled out to the 4, shortly followed by the sound of the alarm ringing out throughout the rooms and hallways for a few seconds, red flashing lights above them before it was turned off.

The walk to the sick bay was long and embarrassing, as Beast Boy could walk on his own, and yet his grief made his legs go limp, forcing Raven to help him along. "I hadn't met anyone like her.. She was so funny, so nice, so...beautiful. She actually seemed interested in me.." Beast Boy reminisced out loud, Raven only letting out a sigh as they soon made it to the medical room, lifting and placing Beast Boy down on one of the beds.

"What do you mean 'interested in you'?" Raven asked, beginning to remove Beast Boy's gloves to reveal the extent of his injury there. Dozens of shards of glass and word were stabbed into his fingers and palms, small drops of blood leaking down them. She then began to slowly remove each one of the shards, with each time Beast Boy letting out a small whine.

"Well.. I'm just..a joke guy really. And seeing as how no one laughs when I use my jokes, not a good one either.. Terra actually seemed to want to know more about me." He answered, leaning his head back into the fluffed up pillow and sighing. "You don't really open up to us, you're too busy joking around or stuffing your face in pizza for anyone to know you outside of that." Raven replied in her monotone voice, her hands beginning to glow a silver-white once all the shrapnel had been removed from his hands.

Slowly, his wounds began to fade, same with the pain in his palms and fingers. "Because everyone just seems fine with that part of me and that's it. I don't have a problem with that, since that's a good part of who I am, but Terra..."

"Let's not think about Terra right now, you're going to need rest once I'm done here and thinking of that traitor will only keep you up." Raven quickly retorted, soon finishing up healing his hands. Beast Boy wanted to dispute calling Terra a 'traitor', but... how could he? She sold out their location, their weaknesses, disabled their security and left the Titans for dead.

"How can I not? She was special to me, I hadn't felt any more free and happy than when I was with her at that carnival." Beast Boy protested, wiping a tear from his eye as his emotions started to get the better of him again. "We just weren't friends when we were together that night, I felt like I had found someone that could complete me.."

"She used you, Beast Boy. She used all of us. If she's under Slade's wing, then I don't think she cared for any of us from the start." Raven asserted, which turned Beast Boy's grief to anger. "That's not true! When we first met, before she met Slade, she was our friend! Even after that.." He retorted, sitting up to stare at Raven.

"I understand it's difficult for you, Beast Boy, considering the connection you thought you had with her.." Raven said, meeting the mutant's stare. "Thought? We did have a connection! It was Slade that messed it up!" Beast Boy angrily responded, a snarl crossing his face, his sharp teeth bared.

"Beast Boy, Slade isn't the only one at fault here. Terra was the one who made the choice to betray us, Slade may have influenced her, but she didn't have to go through with it. Maybe there was something between you two before, but that's gone now, and you can't keep living in the past if we're going to stop her and Slade." Raven's monotone voice tried to calm down the emotional Beast Boy.

"I won't deny that the two of you were... close. All of us saw it, but she's joined Slade. You know the things he's tried to do to destroy us. Terra was around us for long enough to know the things he's done." Raven continued to explain, placing a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "After knowing all of that, she still chose Slade over us, and you have to accept that. She's a criminal, one we will have to bring down like anyone else."

"I.." Beast Boy was at a lost of words, he wanted to argue more, to try and prove that Terra wasn't at fault here, but... he couldn't. She was clearly in control of herself that night, given how reluctant she was during the whole Slade incident, and he didn't think there was another Robin incident on their hands with Terra doing what she did to 'save' her friends.

"Oh god, Terra.." Beast Boy finally conceded, falling forward and wrapping his arms around Raven in a hug, his fingers digging into the back of her cloak while his face was buried in her shoulder. Raven didn't exactly know how to react, her arms just hovering over his back.

"Uh.. I.. I got you.." Raven sighed, finally reaching a hand up to awkwardly pet the back of Beast Boy's head while her other hand was placed against his spine.

Raven wasn't use to this sort of attention, she had grown use to Beast Boy's 'silly' antics and annoying prying, but he had never sought comfort in her like this. Which just made her even more angry. The once energetic and happy Titan was reduced to a puddle of tears and sorrow, all because of Terra. Her fingers began to scratch and dig into Beast Boy's back, nails dragging along his skin as she tried to contain her anger.

"We'll get them, Beast Boy. We won't let them get away with this.." She swore, feeling Beast Boy slowly relax in her arms, his sobs easing down and soon it was just a quiet embrace for several moments.

Beast Boy felt relaxed in the grasp of Raven, he hadn't been thinking when he just kinda threw himself at the usual outcast of the group, but now that his mind was returning to normal, he realized the oddity of the situation. Her fingers ran through his green, messy hair and... were those her nails scratching into her back? If so, she was due for a trimming!

"Alright, that's... enough of that." Raven sighed, tugging Beast Boy off of her and forcefully made him lay down again. And it seemed she also realized the weirdness of their moment, with a pink blush crossing her cheeks. "Now, let's work on those bruises.." She said, her eyes then turning pitch black, and his shirt followed suit, floating up and off of Beast Boy's torso.

To be honest, Beast Boy wasn't in amazing shape. Rather than being toned like Robin or ripped like Cyborg, Beast Boy was just... skinny. And around his torso were several large, dark bruises, no doubt from Slade. "Heh, Rae, you're one lucky girl. Front row seats to the gun show.." Beast Boy finally cracked a joke, though half-heartedly, flexing those small muscles of his, giving him the slightest bit of muscle definition.

Raven just let out a groan, though Beast Boy could find a hint of a smile of her face. Did one of his jokes just amuse her? "I guess it isn't the worst show I've ever seen." She said in her monotone voice in response, amusing Beast Boy in return.

"Didn't know you had jokes." Beast Boy chuckled, feeling his bruises slowly begin to heal as Raven used her magic on them. Raven just shrugged as he continued to heal the Titan. "I don't do jokes." Was all she said in response, then grabbing some medical tape and wrapping it around his upper back, covering up the scratches she applied to him during their hug.

And her response was what confused Beast Boy. Not out of character at all by itself, but it was what she said before that was confusing. What exactly did she mean by it?

The rest of the healing session was spent in mostly silence, with his cut arm bandaged and most of his bruises disappearing or becoming barely noticeable. "Alright, that's everything. Let's get back to the living room and see if there's anything we can do to help." Raven instructed, hovering her way out of the sick bay, followed by Beast Boy who had just finished putting back on his shirt.

"Hang on, let me get out of this." She quickly then sighed, and it was when she brought it up that Beast Boy noted that one of the shoulders of her cloak was soaked in tears and snot. "Oh.. hehe, my bad.. I'll see you at the living room?" He chuckled some, rubbing the back of his head as Raven went off into her room, closing the door behind her.

Rushing his way into the Main Ops room, he could see Cyborg lifting and putting the spilled food and drinks back into the fridge, Starfire doing a lot of vacuuming, using her exceptional strength to lift up the couches with one hand, while Robin was gathering up Slade's robots into one big pile. "So.. what can I do to help?" Beast Boy called out, to which Robin was the one to respond to him. "Uh, sorry to disappoint, but we've got pretty much everything in here. You can bring us all the robots you can from the hallways though." He answered, pointing to the left corridor.

Beast Boy wasn't a fan of chores and would usually unenthusiastically do the chores, if not dodging them entirely, but this was much bigger than just simple chores, and he nodded his head, jogging his way over to the corridor. And there he could see the many bodies scattered throughout the narrow hallway, small holes in the walls and several burn marks littering the floor and walls.  _Alright, plan is, roll them all up into a ball and then roll the ball out for Robin._  Beast Boy thought out his strategy, and he quickly got to work.

Transforming into an orangutan, he made use of the ape's long, long arms to sweep the hallway, gathering all chunks and bodies and soon piling them up in one heep of broken machinery. But Beast Boy quickly noticed just how many hallways there were, filled with plentiful bodies.  _Geez, how did they survive all these?_ He couldn't help but think about his friends' battle with an army of lackeys, starting to repeat the process once more of sweeping up all the robots until he stumbled upon a familiar place.

Terra's room. Reverting back to his normal form, Beast Boy noted of the doors being perfectly intact.  _Probably because they weren't after her.._  He sadly thought to himself, his curiosity getting the best of him and making him slowly approach and enter the room. A bit messy, but otherwise just how Beast Boy remembered it, save a few new additions.

On her bedside counter, there was a picture. It was Terra, Cyborg and himself, out at the pizza place, having a blast, and given the orange finger poked into the bottom of the frame, Beast Boy would have to guess it was Starfire who took the picture.  _Good times.._ The mutant thought to himself, placing the photo back on the table before turning towards the bed.

Sat on it was the gift Beast Boy had made for her, a heart shaped boxed that also doubled as a mirror. He had spent days making it to the best of his ability, and made sure no one else knew about it, in case they'd tell Terra and ruin the surprise. Sighing, Beast Boy slowly opened the box, to reveal a few things.

The first of her comb that she usually wore around the Tower to keep her hair out of her eyes. The next was her communicator, and opening it up, there were around a dozen missed calls from Robin, Starfire and Cyborg, probably trying to let her know of the 'ordeal' they were in. Finally, there was a letter, writen for... him? So Beast Boy decided to give it a read.

_Dear Beast Boy,_

_I'd like to thank you for being so welcoming to me when I first came here. It was awkward being around everyone else since they were either suspicious of me or squeezed all the air of my lungs each time they saw me, but you truly made me feel welcome and apart of the team. I know I can't make it up to you in the short amount of time we have, especially with what I'm about to do, but there is one way I can try. By Midnight tonight, leave the tower. Something is going to happen and I don't want you there to be apart of it. Please don't ask questions or let the others know about this, it'll just complicate things further. I'm only telling you this because of how much I care for you._

_Thank you for being such a good friend to me during our brief time together. I only wish that I could've returned the favor and we could've spent more time together._

_Terra. <3_

By the time Beast Boy had finished reading the letter, he looked up to see Raven enter the room, irritation in her eyes. "What are you doing in here? Aren't you suppose to be cleaning?" She asked coldly, before seeing the paper in his hands.

"I.." He was quickly cut off as Raven snatched the paper from his grasp, skimming throughout it, a certain fire in her eyes as she read further and further before finally getting to the end of it. A few moments passed before the letter in her hands turned pitch black and within a few seconds, was torn up and reduced to a pile of paper shreds. "Back to work." She growled, already beginning to walk away.

Beast Boy wanted to dispute what Raven just did, but he'd know it would just get into an argument about Terra, and he... just needed to get over her. "Sorry.." Beast Boy just sighed, sitting back up and walking out of the room, a hand trailing along the door frame before exiting. "Nothing to be sorry for. I'm just trying to..." Raven responded, before going quiet and levitating off.

He blinked, looking at Raven hovering off, a pile of robot bodies soon surrounded by her usual black power and was dragged out of sight.

Beast Boy had never felt the way he had around Terra, he felt like he was always safe, even when she had no control over her powers. It was the most pleasant feeling ever, to be around someone who you care for and trust with all your being, and now he longed for it. He had a similar feelings towards the rest of the Titans, but it just wasn't the same.

And it almost made him break down again, but Beast Boy sucked it up, walking down the corridor to help in cleaning up.  _Time.. to move on._


	2. Battle

A week had passed from when Terra first betrayed the Titans, but it seemed like it was just yesterday for Beast Boy when he saw her ally with Slade, and it sent a spiral of emotion through him each time it popped into his mind. Some days it would be rage-inducing, and others it would be enough to make him sob.

The tower had been cleaned up by now, but there was still some work to patch up all the walls, doors and windows, but with Cyborg's strength and experience with all sorts of technology, Beast Boy knew the tower would be as good as new in no time.

Except for Terra's room. All of the Titans' rooms had been cleaned up and patched up so they could sleep in privacy, but Terra's was barred up, with Robin telling him it was to renovate it, but he knew all too well why planks were nailed to the door.

So there Beast Boy sat, at the top of the tower, overlooking the city he couldn't even safely be in anymore since he was a wanted man after his... incident at one of the local parks. The others weren't happy with him about it, but at least a stern talking down to by Robin or by Cyborg was some sort of attention that he was use to.

"Um... Beast Boy.." Starfire's voice surprised Beast Boy some, but he was just so in his mind that he didn't even flinch like he use to. "The pizza is here, do you wish to come down and eat some with the rest of us...? You've been up here all day..." Her innocent, concerned tone just made Beast Boy feel guilty. Up here, he didn't have the best track of time, but with the sky turning orange and the moon becoming more and more visible, it was probably dinner time.

"In a bit." Beast Boy coldly replied, idly fiddling with his gloves as he didn't even look back to face his friend. "But.. that's what you said yesterday and you never came.. why not come now?" Starfire pried, which was now ticking him off, but he tried his best to contain it. He knew Starfire only had the best intentions, and she was too wholesome for him to get upset at.

But how was he going to get her out of his hair? "Because... I'll just be there in a bit, ok? I'm sorry for yesterday.." Beast Boy said in the friendliest voice he could force out of his mouth, giving Starfire a brief thumbs up before placing his hands back on his lap.

"If.. this is about Terra, then.. you're just going to have to move on." Starfire countered, floating closer until she was by Beast Boy's side. "You can't keep thinking about her and hang out with us. How will you get better if you do nothing but be alone and sad?" Ok, now she was starting to push it. Again, Beast Boy forced himself to keep his mouth shut, as to try and not hurt Starfire, but she was making it difficult.

"I don't think Slade is going to remain quiet for long and when he strikes, we're going to need you to help." Starfire insisted, placing a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder.

Something about what Starfire was saying felt off to Beast Boy, it's like... she was reading a script. And it didn't take long for him to connect the dots. "Did Robin tell you to come up here and tell me this?" Beast Boy sighed, pushing Starfire's soft hand off of him. "Can he not even talk to me himself?"

It seemed those questions caught Starfire off-guard, and she remained quiet for a bit before slowly speaking once more. "He... just misses you, Beast Boy. We all do... even Raven seems concerned." She replied as calmly as she could, shaky voice and all, trying to make eye contact with the mutant, who just looked away.

"Yeah, so much so that you're the only one to actually come up here?" Beast Boy growled in return, his hands bunching up into fists. "Look, Star, I appreciate that you're concerned with me, but I'm just fine up here, I'll come down eventually."  _Hopefully that's that.._

But of course, it wasn't, as Starfire spoke once more. "We've tried to value your privacy, but it's getting to the point where we're really getting concerned for you." She soon stood up, looking down at the hunched over mutant. "And eventually isn't now. We want your company now... but if you insist, I'll leave you alone.."

"Please do.." Beast Boy coldly stated, going back to look over the city and to watch the sunset while Starfire solemnly nodded her head and floated off.  _Finally.._  He internally sighed, closing his eyes and just entering his mind, reliving memories that were so precious to him before...

"Beast Boy!" Was followed by the loud sound of a door slamming open, and turning around, Beast Boy saw the figure of Robin walking forward.  _Great.._  Robin looked irritated and his walk over to him just screamed angry.

Now Robin was someone Beast Boy felt more comfortable being rude with in his current state, plus it wasn't like Robin was a bundle of joy to be around a lot of the time in the first place. "Thought you guys were valuing my privacy.." He said in greeting, dusting himself off as he stood up to meet the former sidekick.

"What's the matter with you? All we've done is to try and be supportive of you, and yet you're just being a jerk!" Robin growled, standing over the much shorter Titan, who however wasn't intimidated by the aggressive stance.

"How am I being a jerk? I'm staying away from you guys to avoid being a jerk to you guys!" Beast Boy responded, his eyes narrowing as he faced Robin. "There's a difference between getting some space and self-isolating yourself-" "And you've never self-isolated? You were camped in your little study room for days on without rest to try and find Slade." Beast Boy hastily interrupted his leader, remembering the times where Robin would just stay in that dark room, looking over the smallest of hints that always lead him nowhere in the search for the villain.

"That was completely different! I was in there to try and help us by finding Slade, while you're out here doing nothing of value!" Robin retorted, rubbing his temples in annoyance. And Beast Boy was turning from annoyed to angry, he was use to be talked down to, that came with being the youngest of the Titans, but in his more agitated state, it really got to him.

"Yeah, and you did such a good job in that. How many weeks was it until you had to resort to stealing and tricking us to actually get anywhere in your investigating?" Beast Boy just sighed, beginning to turn around to look back at the sunset.

"No!" Robin shouted, grabbing Beast Boy by the neckline of his shirt, turning him back around to face the leader. "Just like how I was stealing, both to find Slade and to serve Slade, Terra will be doing the same, and you being-" Beast Boy had heard enough, and with Robin's hands already on him, the smaller male decided to return the favor by bringing up his right hand and slapping Robin in the face, getting him away for a few moments.

And it was just then that Beast Boy realized what he had just did. He hit his leader. Hard too, he could feel his palm stinging after the slap, and looking at Robin, he was down at one knee, rubbing his cheek and shaking his head some.

"Uh, don't mean to interrupt guys, but we got troub- Everything alright?" It was Cyborg's time to come up to the roof, and Beast Boy could hear the sirens ringing out throughout the Tower. Robin soon stood up, giving a final shake of his head before nodding. "Yeah, everything's fine. What kind of trouble?" He asked.

"The Hiveling kind. Looks like those three are at the police station. Who knows what they want there.." Cyborg hastily answered, still looking curious of the two's situation before heading back downstairs.

Hivelings were the three troublemakers that briefly took over the Tower. Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx. Annoying bunch that were the one of the more common criminals around that the Teen Titans had to deal with.

"Uh, so Robin.." Beast Boy began to mutter, slowly walking up to his leader. "No time, you coming or not?" Robin interrupted, staring at him with a determined look, as if he had forgotten what had just happened. And while Beast Boy was still 'mourning', it wasn't in him to ignore a call to protect the city. "Of course.." He could barely get out before Robin rushed downstairs, and Beast Boy quickly followed.

It wasn't a long trip from the tower to the police station, with Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire all able to fly while the T-Car was as fast as anything. And it was when they got there, they saw what the Hivelings were doing. There were several police officers already trapped in large orange bubbles, and upon further inspection, one could reach into the bubbles, but one couldn't reach out of them.

And with the bad guys nowhere in sight, the Titans tried to help the officers out of the odd bubbles until a pink beam struck the ground, causing an explosion and a cloud of smoke to obstruct Beast Boy's vision. "Were wondering when you'd snotfaces get here, it was getting boring trapping all these losers!" Gizmo's voice was the first one to be heard, and as the smoke cleared, there were the three. Gizmo was already on those mechanical spider legs of his, tongue stuck out at the Titans, while Jinx and Mammoth stood beside him, Jinx's hands glowing pink while Mammoth was cracking his knuckles.

"Heh, trust me, it'll be much more boring when you're trapped behind bars!" Robin retorted, brushing the dust of his shirt as the Titans assembled once more.  _Always with the one liner.._  Beast Boy shook his head as he thought, a chuckle escaping his mouth. This was just what he needed to get back to normal!

"Titans, go!" And like that, the fight began. Jinx started by firing several pink beams against the group that were matched by Starfire's starbolts. Cyborg and Robin decided to team up against Mammoth, who remained mostly unhurt by Robin's bonemerangs and Cyborg's strikes, matching them blow to blow. Which just left Gizmo who was blasting at Raven, "Eat lasers, slobhead!" He yelled out as his blasters were shooting yellow, bullet-like lasers at the soaring Raven, who was responding with a few black bolts of her own.

Transforming into a bear, Beast Boy charged forward, aiming himself at those long metal legs of Gizmo's as he was busy firing at Raven. "Not so fast, boogerbrain!" He shouted out, just as Beast Boy looked to slash out those spider legs, they were sucked back into Gizmo's harness and popping out the back was some helicopter blades, flying just high enough to avoid any ground animal.

However, the small distraction was enough for Raven to turn around and retaliate, hitting the tiny genius right in the face with one of those black beams, sending him flying in the air before he recovered. "Ow! Now you're going to get it!" Gizmo shouted out, two rocket launchers now appearing out the side of his jetpack, and soon fired off rockets directed right at Raven.

"Look out!" Beast Boy warned Raven, who despite her forcefield, was sent flying in the air as the rockets collided against it. However, Gizmo was soon met with another flying combatant in Starfire who began firing starbolts at him now. " 'Ey watch it, just upgraded this thing!" Gizmo screeched, rapidly dodging around as Starfire went in pursuit.

"Wait, so if Star was fighting Jinx, then where is-" Beast Boy's question was soon answered as a pink slice just barely missed him, instead exploding the ground in front of him, causing a shout to come out of his mouth. He responded by quickly turning into a hawk, flying up into the air and weaving around to avoid more of those glowing waves of... whatever it was, Beast Boy just assumed it was like Starfire's bolts.

Once close enough, Beast Boy went from a hawk to an elephant, looking to land right atop of Jinx, but somehow she saw it coming and was able to roll out the way just in time. "Ow.." Beast Boy grunted, shifting back to his human form to rub his gut, only to get met with a pink beam striking him right in the chest. "Bet that hurts even more, chump." Jinx laughed as Beast Boy was sent flying, crashing into a lamp post. "Ugh.."

"Now let me put the puppy out of its misery." Jinx chuckled, aiming both of her palms at the defenseless Beast Boy, his vision dizzy, but a glowing bright pink began to flash in front of him before the light went away after a large thud was heard.

"No one hurts my friends." Raven said, walking over to Jinx's unconscious body, a street sign laying beside her, before looking over at Beast Boy. "You alright?" She then asked, and Beast Boy noticing his shirt was torn, a burn mark crossing his pecs. "Oh, uh.. I'm fine, let's just beat these other two."

"Looks like that's going to be a bit of a problem." Raven grunted, pointing over to Starfire who looked to be trapped in one of those orange bubbles, which were apparently soundproof as well, as it looked like she was giving, or attempting to give, Gizmo an earful.

Beast Boy then ran over to Gizmo, who was back on his spider legs. "You again, twerp?" Gizmo said, as if flabbergasted, before trying to stomp on Beast Boy with those steel limbs. Quickly shifting into a mouse, he made sure to jump out the way of all the stomps, soon catching one of them and climbing up them.

"What?! Get off me, you butt for brains!" Gizmo squealed, rapidly shaking his spider legs in an attempt to get him off, but it was to little use as Beast Boy finally reached the back of her harness, then transforming into a monkey and ripping into all the cords of the multi-purpose device.

"No no no no!" Gizmo yelled out in horror as soon his spider legs gave out and both he and Beast Boy fell to the ground, his harness nothing more than torn up metal and wires. "Starfire, mind some company?" Beast Boy huffed, tossing the baddy into the bubble along with Starfire, who only looked pissed with the little man.

Suddenly, Starfire went wide-eyed and pointing forward, causing Beast Boy to turn around and see both Robin and Cyborg trapped in the orange bubbles as well, while Raven went head to head with Mammoth. She tried to hurl everything she could at the giant, from street signs to cars to fire hydrants, most of them barely affecting the behemoth. Mammoth then clapped his hands, sending an eye-bleeding screeching sound throughout the area, forcing both Beast Boy and Raven to cover her ears. And before Beast Boy knew it, Mammoth leaped up into the air, smashing down onto Raven, pinning her down. "Bye bye, tiny girl." He taunted, lifting up those goliath hands of his into the air while she was still dazed, looking to smash.

"No!" Beast Boy had to move fast, and thus he first transformed into a cheetah, rushing over as fast as he could, getting into leaping range before jumping up into the air, turning into a billy goat, slamming his horns into the gut of Mammoth and sending him falling back, just enough to get him away from the defenseless Raven.

"Huh?" Mammoth grunted, shaking his head some and looking forward at the skinny green man in front of him. "Oh, I know you! I just wanted to apologize..." He began to say in an almost sympathetic voice, which confused Beast Boy some. "I'm sorry that Terra girl caught sight of a true man-" Mammoth flexed those massive muscles of his, a smirk across his face. "-and left her skin-and-bones boyfriend behind. Don't worry, I'll be sure to make her happy, something you never could."

It took Beast Boy a few seconds to process what Mammoth just said, and how on earth he'd know about Terra, but then he remembered that they worked for Slade... He probably told them. And that just pissed off Beast Boy. "Take that back.." He growled, snarling and baring those spiky teeth of his.

"Oh, kinda like how she took back her allegiance to the Titans?" Mammoth taunted even more, before slamming his fists down onto the ground, causing a miniature earthquake to shake and rattle Beast Boy while he charged forward. However, his anger just kept him focused on the massive meathead, and Beast Boy was going to make him pay for his remarks.

Jumping up into the air, Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla, trying to smash his fists down onto Mammoth who managed to block with his forearms. "Heh, trying to be a big boy now?" He continued to taunt and prod, before Beast Boy felt a hard punch right against his gut, sending him flying overhead and landing on the road.

"Guess I'll have to smash you first.." Mammoth laughed, standing over the fallen Beast Boy as he coughed and shook his head. "Then I think I'll go and 'smash' Terra, think she handle me?" Mammoth's last comment really got to Beast Boy now, and he made sure to make the goliath pay with a gorilla fist right to his crotch.

"OW OW OW!" Mammoth whimpered, holding onto his crotch while Beast Boy was able to capitalize, getting back up onto his feet and use a double-fist to smash Mammoth overhead back down to the ground. He could practically see the stars flying around his head, however Beast Boy wasn't done with him yet.

Walking over to the defeated giant and sitting down on his chest, Beast Boy wrapped his hands around Mammoth's throat, squeezing as hard as he could to choke out the giant while all he could do was writhe and gag. "Br-Bro.. We.. aren't ac-actually.. dating.." Mammoth tried to heave out, but Beast Boy couldn't care at this point, so angry that he wouldn't mind one bit if he died right then and there. And it seemed he was getting close, with his struggles slowly losing strength.

"Beast Boy, stop!" Raven's voice however snapped him out of it, and looking forward, he could see Raven reaching out towards him, still laid on the ground, along with the other Titans slamming against their bubbles, screaming as well. Even Jinx and Gimzo looked concerned, trapped in their bubbles as well, clawing at them in an attempt to break free.

Blinking several times, Beast Boy released Mammoth's throat from his grasp, getting off of his chest, just watching him writhe around on the ground in pain, gasping for breath while also holding onto his crotch.  _What was that.._  He wondered in horror, reverting back to his human form and looking down at his hands. They were shaking rapidly, there was a certain kind of adrenaline throughout through his blood. And it was... exciting. Exhilarating. That was a rush that he had never felt before. And that's what scared Beast Boy the most. Why was he hyped up over that?

 _I need to get my mind off of this._ He thought, wanting to just run away, get out of there, but seeing his friends still trapped in those bubbles, along with Raven laying on the ground, he knew he couldn't.

Beast Boy jogged over to where Raven was, he slowly picked her up, making sure she could stand properly before letting her go. "Are you ok?" Beast Boy asked, panting like he had just ran around the globe, staring desperately into Raven's eyes. Sweat was running all down his body, soaking his clothes while making his wounds sting all that much more.

"Let's just get you home." Raven sighed, looking worried for Beast Boy, which just scared him even more.  _What's wrong with me?_

"All tests say you're perfectly fine, Beast Boy." Cyborg concluded, which just led to Beast Boy, covered in numerous machines with more wires coming out of them, to be even more nervous. Cyborg had rushed both Beast Boy and Raven back to the tower, while Robin and Starfire hung back to free all the officers and make sure the Hivelings went behind bars.

While Raven was in the sick bay, Cyborg did his best to tend to Beast Boy's burn wound on his chest and wrap it up in medical tape, but he wasn't quite the doctor Raven was.

"You probably just got carried away because of Mammoth's comments. You weren't in a good state of mind going into that mission and Mammoth commenting on Terra just made it worse." Robin said with a frown, looking over at Starfire as she entered the room.

"How's Raven?" He asked as Beast Boy began to tug off all of the technological stuff off of him. Starfire grinned some in response, "Why don't you ask her yourself?" She said gleefully, and soon Raven walked into the main room, Beast Boy letting out a sigh of relief.

"Was just shaken up by that clap move, I'm fine." Raven said with a slight smile, however Cyborg stepped forward, a sly smirk on his face. "Isn't there someone you should thank?" And he made it all too obvious who he was referring to, practically pointing a bright red arrow right on Beast Boy who had finished unhooking himself from everything.

 _Goddamn it, Cy._ Beast Boy sighed internally, a slight blush crossing his cheeks. "I was getting to that." Raven grunted some, some embarrassment on her face as well. "Thanks for saving me back there, Beast Boy. And... glad to see you back around here." She slowly thanked Beast Boy, her smile growing somewhat larger.

"Oh, uh, no need for that, we're a team after all.." He just chuckled some, scratching the back of his head and trying to look everywhere but at Raven. "Oh, Beast Boy. Spoke with the sheriff of the police station. Thanks to your actions back there to save the officers, they're going to drop all charges towards you for that park incident." Robin was the one to break the awkwardness, however it was just more congratulatory stuff for Beast Boy to blush about.

"Oh, what a joyous occasion!" Starfire yelled gleefully, wrapping her arms around Beast Boy and giving him a death hug. "I say we celebrate all the good news with the movie night, where we watch all the best films and animation until our eyes cannot bare it!"

"And we still have that pizza we ordered!" Cyborg added, pointing towards the box of pizza still laying on the main counter. "Sounds like a plan to me, you two up for it?" Robin then asked, looking over towards the two, hints of red still across their cheeks.

A movie night? With pizza? After just kicking some bad guy butt? Beast could definitely think of worse ways to spend a night. "Totally!" He hollered, then looking at Raven who just shrugged. "Sure..."

It seemed like things were going back to normal for the Titans, however a lingering thought sat in the back of Beast Boy's head.  _How did I lose control like that..._


	3. Confrontation

Yawning, Beast Boy let out a grunt as he slowly opened his eyes to the sight of the sun shining through his window. "Ah god, it buuuurns!" He yelled in faint horror and pain, though unfortunately he couldn't commit too much to the bit of the sun literally blinding him thanks to his burn wound on his chest making his movement not the best it could be.

A day had passed since the Titans had that movie night and Beast Boy began sleeping full time back in the Tower and just not on the roof. And god did he miss a mattress and pillows. As it turns out, sleeping on steel with the sounds of crickets constantly waking you up, along the first hint of the sun blasting you in the face wasn't comfortable.

But even then, the changeling wouldn't consider himself 100%, and not just physically. The loss of Terra was still tough to process, but now he had to worry about some sort of... killer instinct in him. Robin was right when he said he was angry when Mammoth taunted him with information that was very sensitive to him, but... he still wouldn't kill, right?

Slade... he's had thoughts about killing Slade before. But that was right after the Terra incident, would he actually go through with it in a clear state of mind? He was about to kill Mammoth when Raven intervened, and he was just taunting him. Slade has done so much more horrid things that just maybe he wouldn't be able to stop himself...

"Oh Beast Boy, do you need some ointment?" Starfire suddenly asked, peeking into his room, dressed in some purple pajamas. "Ointment?" Beast Boy echoed, confused at the statement.

"For your burning. It sounded really bad! I could hear your cry for help when I was in the kitchen" Her innocent words then clued the changeling into what she meant and he could only laugh some in response.

"Oh Star, I was just joking." He chuckled, which seemed to confuse Starfire even more. "Uh, you've seen the stories about vampires and that not liking the sun, right?" Beast Boy felt the need to clarify exactly how he was joking. "Well I was just mimicking that."

That seemed to satisfy Starfire, who then broke out in some laughter. "Oh, I can see! I just finished some breakfast, do you wish to come and eat?" She then offered after she was done giggling.

What Starfire considered breakfast and what Beast Boy considered breakfast were two entirely different things, in fact, what Starfire considered FOOD would be entirely different to what anyone else would consider food.

"I was actually going to make myself some tofu burgers, we can share those if you want." The changeling switched the question, rubbing the back of his head as he got out of bed.

Even Starfire hated tofu, and it was amusing to see her try and decline the offer as kindly as she should before hovering off, leaving Beast Boy alone once more. And it was only then that he noticed the attire he was wearing while talking to Starfire.

Or lack of attire.

He was just wearing his tighty whiteys and a wrap of bandages around his chest. While he wasn't really a prude, he still did not find it appropriate to talk to girls while practically nude. Thankfully Starfire didn't know much about what was and what wasn't appropriate, in fact Now if it was Raven, then she probably wouldn't have been so kind about it.

With that in mind, Beast Boy quickly changed into his standard skin-tight black and purple suit, slipping on his socks and shoes and deciding to walk out to the living room while putting on his gloves.

Starfire was eating something Beast Boy couldn't name, while Cyborg and Robin were talking to each other while watching some racing on the big TV.

Which only left one Titan not in the main ops room, which was Raven unsurprisingly. She wasn't ever awake early because she spends most of the night meditating or something like that, Beast Boy wasn't the most knowledgeable on what Raven did in her room outside of traveling into her own mind with some sort of magic mirror.

And while he'd usually not care, today was different. Not only did he want to check on her to see how she was doing after their battle with the Hivelings, but maybe see if she could say anything on that instinct he had during that fight.

Robin had dealt with oddballs over in Gotham, but nothing really like Beast Boy, Cyborg was very smart but only in technology and that, and Starfire probably wouldn't know much on it either. Raven was his best bet, and even if she didn't know much... her company was never really something Beast Boy despised.

Plus he wasn't really that hungry, having eaten so much pizza two nights ago that he was sure he was still digesting it all. So walking over to the fridge, he simply grabbed himself a can of root beer, popping it open and taking a few swigs of it before beginning to walk out. "Ay yo Beast Boy, can you toss me one?" Cyborg yelled over at him, forcing the changeling to let out a sigh.

"Sure thing!" Beast Boy yelled back over, going back into the fridge to grab another can of root beer, and after looking into the fridge for a few more seconds, he noticed a bottle of ice tea in the fridge, an 'R' written on the cap to signify that it was Raven's.

 _Maybe she'll want it._  Beast Boy thought to himself, tossing Cyborg his root beer before grabbing the bottle of tea and finally heading over to Raven's room. It was hard to balance his root beer, Raven's tea and knock on the door, so hopefully she could hear his foot banging slightly against her door.

Several seconds passed and the changeling slowly grew anxious as he cradled both the ice tea and root beer to his chest, both right out of the fridge and thus rather uncomfortable to press against your clothing.  _Come on Rae.._

Another kick to her door was coming when finally the door openly so slightly, enough for Raven to peek her face out. "Can I help you?" Raven's dry voice greeted, raising a brow as she saw Beast Boy shiver in front of her before noticing the two cold drinks in his arms.

"Hey, uh.. think we can talk?" He asked, his feet dancing against the floor before finally he couldn't take it and held out the tea for her. "I got you your tea from the fridge, figured you'd want it!"

Raven just looked confused as she slowly took the bottle of tea out of the mutant's hands, relieving her odd friend of the burden of carrying both that and his drink. "Um... can it wait?" She tried to back out of the conversation, a frown crossing Beast Boy's face.

"I mean, sure it  _could_ , but I'd really prefer if I just talked to you now." He pleaded his case, trying his best to not seem desperate, but he wasn't the best in hiding his emotions and she just looked at him weirder and weirder.

"Fine, make it quick." Raven finally conceded, opening the cap to her iced tea and beginning to sip it. And just as Beast Boy went to talk, he could hear the loud noise of Starfire not far away talking to Robin and Cyborg. Not that he didn't trust the others or anything, but the changeling felt more comfortable if this wasn't just something they overheard until he knew exactly what it was.

"Um, mind if we go somewhere more private? Yours or my room works.."

Raven's face went to that of curiosity to suspicion and irritation, which really scratched at Beast Boy's heart. Usually when he annoyed Raven, it was over trivial things and jokes that he partially did just to annoy her, but this was serious!

"I'm sorry, I'm busy, maybe later.." She then deadpanned, beginning to walk out from the door and letting it shut when Beast Boy shot his hand out to catch the door, nearly smashing his fingers in the process. "Please, Raven. I'm.. scared." He continued to plead and practically beg the half-demon, leaning his head against the door.

She turned back, the look on her face unreadable by Beast Boy, but clearly she was thinking about something. "It's that important?" She pried, and the changeling didn't hesitate in nodding to confirm.

"Hmm... fine, but you're not coming here and I'm not going in-" She began to answer him, however the sirens of the tower interrupted her. Beast Boy pouted, and was forced to step out of the way as Raven floated past. "When we get back, we'll talk on the roof." She quickly whispered to him before meeting Cyborg at the entrance of the corridor and running out with him.

The Titans had traveled together to a chemical plant and busting in the door to the place, they found a familiar, and quite frankly ugly face in Plasmus gulping down as much acid as he could. It took him a few seconds to realize the Titans were watching him down the rancid waste, but when he did notice, he reacted rather angrily, shooting out gallons of sludge their way.

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled before backflipping out the way of the junk, Starfire and Raven flying into the air while Cyborg rolled out of the way to dodge.

Beast Boy in the other hand turned into a mole, digging his way underground to avoid the sewage waste hurled his way. Above him, he could hear the sound of Stafire shooting several starbolts, while there were many explosions, assumingly from Robin's ammunation discs and Cyborg's sonic cannon. Even a faint 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos' could be heard as well.

But the vile gargling of Plasmus was still loud and disgusting, and the sounds of those slimy limbs slamming into the ground indicated it wasn't going down easy.  _My time to shine!_ Beast Boy beamed, using his strong hearing to detect exactly where Plasmus was standing and digging until he was right behind the sludge monster.

Popping out of the ground as a mole, he quickly transformed into a bear and reached his claws out to slash the back of Plasmus. However, the slash marks on the sludge monster's body quickly reformed, and Beast Boy's hands were now soaked in its muck. Taking note of the changeling behind him, Plasmus turned around and swung a heavy punch at Beast Boy, sending him through the plant's wall and landing him outside.

"Ew.. I won't be clean for weeks!" Beast Boy whined, shaking as much gunk from his hands and body as he could before attempting to stand up. However a boot came down hard on his chest, causing him to fall back down and gasp, coughing and heaving for breath.  _What the.._

"Hello little one." A voice greeted him, all too cold and taunting to be anyone other than... "Slade!" Beast Boy realized, attempting to roll away from the villain only to suffer another stomp, this time to his back between his shoulder blades, pinning him to the ground.

The changeling huffed and grunted against the boot digging into his back, trying to push himself up, but Slade was just too strong for him to overpower. "My.. I knew they called you the weakest of the Titans, but I was still expecting more out of you." That sinister tone continued to taunt the mutant, only riling up him more.

However, the foot soon left his back, and Beast Boy looked up to see Slade stepping back, as if giving him a chance to get up. Even then, the pain in the changeling's chest and back made it difficult for him to stand up, his arms wobbling as he slowly forced himself up, staring forward at the mysterious man. His single eye remained calm as usual and his mouth wasn't visible beneath that mask, but he could just feel the arrogance and contempt radiating off of the villain.

"There you go, now was that so difficult?" Slade then mocked, slowly walking up to the hurt Titan who only growled in response. "Where's Terra?" Beast Boy growled, staring up to meet Slade's glare, fists shaking as soon the mutant was towered over.

"Patience, Beast Boy. She still doesn't have full control of her powers yet. I wouldn't want her to do any damage to herself." He answered coldly, which just confused Beast Boy. Why was Slade not fighting him? The changeling could ask himself that same question. "But-" "She seemed to be in control of herself before?" Slade seemed to know exactly what he was going to say, which annoyed him further.

"When she ran away after your first encounter with her, she ran to me. I managed to teach her some nice tricks as well as setting up a few situations for her to truly shine." Slade reached a hand down, and Beast Boy was preparing himself for a blow, but instead, he could feel those cold gloved fingers... run through his hair. He was... petting him?

"And she did all of them perfectly. But in any real danger, she would've crumbled." He continued to explain, even kneeling down to meet eye-to-eye with Beast Boy, "I have to give it to her though, she's a very, very good actress. She even managed to convince you that she actually cared for you."

Beast Boy responded to that last line with a straight punch to Slade's face, sending him back a few steps, having dazed him. Once there was distance between the two, the changeling transformed into a lion, charging forward with his claws extended. Slade had to make an effort to dodge out of the way, rolling just in the knick of time to avoid those claws.

However, Beast Boy quickly transformed into a gorilla, and with the distance closed between the two, he swung a massive arm to send the villain flying, crashing into some crates. Once he felt he made contact and saw Slade's body fly, the changeling lept into the air, slamming his fists downward, however he caught a few chunks of wood.

Slade let out a small chuckle, landing a gut punch to the gorilla, forcing him to kneel over. "Come on, little one. I know you can do better." He whispered to him, before connecting his knee right to his nose, forcing Beast Boy to step back.

Groans escaped Beast Boy's mouth as he reverted back to his human form, reaching a hand up to his nose to feel it was dented, blood oozing out of it and onto his glove, even dripping down to his mouth, letting him taste his own blood. "Ew.." He gagged, spitting out some of the scarlet vital fluid.

"Don't like the taste of blood? Maybe that'll come later.." Slade's sinister tone continued to jeer and taunt him, slowly begin to walk forward towards Beast Boy again.

"Get away from me.." He growled, transforming into a bear and letting out a roar to the villain, who only chuckled slightly and continued walking forward.

 _Something's up.._ Beast Boy thought, Slade almost never.. well, 'picked' on him like this before, and he had never been this 'kind' before. Sure, he may have broken his nose, but it was almost as if he didn't want to fight. Quite frankly, Beast Boy didn't want to either.

And it seemed even in his bear form, Slade could notice the look of confusion on his face. "What's the matter, Beast Boy? Confused? Scared?" He asked, the changeling not even noticing just how close Slade had gotten once more.

Before Slade could say anymore, a green ball of energy hit him in the side, sending him into a nearby fence. Looking over, Beast Boy could see his friends standing at the hole in the wall Plasmus sent him through. And behind them there was a man, snoring away in a puddle of purple sludge, indicating the Titans had finally defeated him.

"Get away from our friend!" Starfire shouted fiercely, her eyes glowing bright green, same with her fists. Slade grunted as he stood up, lifting himself up with the fence he was almost sent through thanks to the Tamaranean.

Cracking his neck, Slade dusted himself off a bit before speaking once more. "Oh, but I'm not done with him quite yet. Don't worry, I'll try and make it quick." Suddenly, the concrete they were standing on began to shake, and several chunks of asphalt were launched at the Titans, forcing them back just enough for the hole in the plant to be covered.

"What the..." Beast Boy thought out loud as he reverted back to his human form, blinking in confusion a few times. How did Slade do that? Only person who could do that was...

"Terra! Where is she?" The changeling figured out, launching himself at Slade and actually managing to tackle him and bring him down.

Probably because he was providing little to no resistance to it, his arms to his side and his gaze focused on the green mutant. "Like I said previously, Terra is not with us right now."

"Liar!" Beast Boy shouted, landing a blow across Slade's mask, a small grunt escaping his covered mouth, slowly followed by a chuckle.

"Stop laughing, tell me!" He was getting rather tired of the game Slade was playing with him, another punch landing atop his mask.

"Ah, interrogating me, little one? I'm flattered, but what I've said is the truth." Slade repeated himself, causing the changeling to snarl.

Beast Boy then grabbed each side of the mask of Slade, "You're going to tell me or else I'll-" Ripping up, he managed to take off that mask, only to reveal a bunch of wiring and a single small screen.

Slade was on the screen, but with a smaller figure with him. Beast Boy almost didn't recognize them because of the metallic outfit they had on, but that long blonde hair could only belong to..

"Terra!" He shouted, which only caused her to jump, her body slightly shaking as Beast Boy stared down at the screen. His snarl slowly turned into a frown as Terra looked... scared of him, and soon she walked out of sight, not daring to look back up at the changeling.

"You scared her.." Slade's cold voice mocked him, "You see now why she decided to join me instead of being with you? She's scared of you, of all of you."

 _No.._  "She would've never been a Teen Titan for long, especially with what you're going through right now, Beast Boy." That dark tone continued to go on, sending a spiral of emotion through the changeling.

"Your relationship with her would've never lasted. She's a very sensitive girl, she needs someone like me to guide her. You would've only hurt her.."

"Shut up!" Beast Boy suddenly shouted, bringing his fists down atop the screen, shattering it. "Now that's what I wanted to see.." Was the last thing he heard from Slade, before communications were shut off.

The changeling was panting greatly, sweat soaking his face and he just couldn't keep his body still. That same rush of adrenaline was rushing throughout him that was just with him a few nights ago.  _This is what Slade wanted.._

"Beast Boy!" Cyborg called out to him, and he could hear four pairs of footsteps rushing over to him. "Are you alright?" Robin then asked, which he couldn't answer.

Looking down at the non-functioning robot, Beast Boy didn't see a life like Mammoth. It was a lifeless pile of scrap, just dressed in an all too familiar outfit. He needed... something to release his frustration on, and thus he raised his fists once more and started bringing them down on the exposed head of the bot, feeling wires been torn and metal being dented thanks to his assault.

"Friend, stop! You have defeated him!" Starfire shouted, grabbing onto his arms and trying to lift him off of the bot. However, Beast Boy only continued the attack, stomping down onto the chest of the Sladebot since his arms were restricted, shattering its chest piece and exposing even more machinery until he was too far away to do any more damage.

"We need to get him back to the Tower.." He could hear Raven's voice before seeing Robin now try to restrict his legs. "I'll see if there are any more tests I can run on him.. This isn't normal." Cyborg was the next to speak, which just fully aggravated Beast Boy. "So now I'm not fine?!" He growled, to which it seemed the Titans just ignored his words and continued to talk among himself before finally a sentence intrigued him.

"I'll take him back to the Tower, you three can clean up here or whatever.." Raven was the one who spoke, before her hands glowed black and suddenly Beast Boy was unable to move at all. Looking down, his body was restricted within Raven's powers, and looking around, it seemed his head was also trapped.

He could no longer hear at all what the Titans were saying, unable to see anything anymore and it was... pretty scary actually. And as he tried to struggle free, he also realized how pointless it was.

Several minutes passed by and Beast Boy still didn't know if they were still at the plant, if they were at the Tower, anything...

Until finally, he could see once more, his eyes blinking rapidly to adjust to the bright sun, before seeing Raven in front of him. "Where... where are we?" Beast Boy asked, noting that his body was still trapped, and looking down, it seemed only his head was exposed.

Raven didn't answer him, and the changeling had to look around the best he could with his neck still trapped within the half-demon's powers. He could still see the sky, so they were outside, but other than that, he had no idea.

"Now we can talk." Raven finally spoke, sitting cross-legged in front of him and looking at him with her usual emotionless face. "I'm going to assume what you felt back there was what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Beast Boy still wasn't very relaxed, but his brain was just clear enough to realize what was going on and what he had done. "Um.. yeah. This time was much more intense though."

Raven simply nodded in response, before lifting up a finger to Beast Boy's face, slowly dragging it along his forehead. He could see her take a mental note of it before closing her eyes.

After a few seconds, the changeling felt one of his hands exposed, still shaking rapidly due to the altercation, and she didn't even need to feel it to know how much it was shaking.

"Now.. I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you have to try and answer them as honestly as possible." She asked him, to which Beast Boy nodded in response.  _What's wrong with me.._

"Alright. First question, did you want to kill Mammoth when you were choking him?"  _Ok, that's a hard hitting first question_ , Beast Boy thought to himself.

Trying to think back to that night, he remembered staring down at the defeated giant, almost comically holding onto his groin as he was smashed into the road. But there was a certain kind of... bloodlust running through Beast Boy's head, he wanted to punish him further, to make sure he could never hurt anyone or speak dirtily of anyone ever again.

And his solution to do that was to... kill him. But did he WANT to kill him? In his mind in that state...

Beast Boy reluctantly nodded his head. If Raven had a reaction to that, she didn't show it on her face as she simply began to speak once more. "And why did you stop?"

"I... because you told me to." The changeling answered, remembering Raven calling out to him just when Mammoth was about to pass out.

"And yet just now, I had to restrict you physically in order to get you to stop beating on the Sladebot. None of us could get you to stop with words." Raven pointed out, which was true. Robin and Starfire physically restrained him and he still didn't stop in trying to destroy the robot further.

"That's because it was something in connection with Slade, correct?" She then asked, and the changeling nodded his head. "I think so." Mammoth had worked for Slade in the past, but recently it seemed more and more like he and the Hivelings were just doing whatever they wanted, while a Sladebot was made by Slade, had the voice of Slade, mimicked Slade's actions and even made the real Slade inside of it on a tiny screen.

Taking another mental note of that, Raven nodded her head, before asking another question. "What caused you to go... berserk like that on the Sladebot? Was it when he.. did that to your nose?"

Shaking his head, Beast Boy tried to recall the exact moment he turned from angry to... berserk as Raven called it. They fought, sure, and Slade may have broken his nose, but he was use to getting hurt, that wouldn't have done it.

He was also use to the taunting, and the trickery of a Sladebot being passed off as the real one, but..

"Behind the Sladebot's mask... there was a screen that Slade talked to me through." He began to answer, swallowing as he tried to force the words out. "Terra was there with him. She seemed... scared of me. Terrified. And I knew that I was the one she was scared of."

"She walked out of sight, and he just taunted me further about it. Talking about how she would've never lasted with us, how I would've... hurt her. I think that's when I snapped?"

"I see.." Raven spoke, a small frown crossing her face, and Beast Boy realized she probably also wasn't over Terra's betrayal.

"How exactly do you feel when you're in that state?"

That was a... difficult question. There was so many emotions running through him in those short moments, but there were a few Beast Boy could name.

"Angry, frustrated, regretful, sadness... satisfaction and enjoyment. The whole thing is like a shot of adrenaline for me." He finally answered, not even having the heart to look at Raven at this point.

She didn't show it, but Beast Boy felt she was disappointed in him. She knew all about containing emotion and yet here he was, letting it all out whenever the opportunity presented itself. And he almost killed someone over it.

Suddenly, Beast Boy felt his entire body be released from Raven's power and he landed on his feet. Looking around, the changeling noted that they were on the roof of some abandoned warehouse, having to watch his step in order to not fall through one of the holes on the place.

Turning back to Raven, he could see .. uncertainty in her face, which was a rather big disappointment. "So .. do you know what's up with me?" Beast Boy asked anyway, looking for any sort of clarification of what was going on.

"No." Raven simply answered, only causing the mutant to shake his head and sigh. "Oh, ok.. Thanks anyway.." He muttered, before beginning to walk off.

"I wasn't done." She called to him, causing him to stop right in his tracks. "I don't know what's up, but I'm going to see if there's anything about what you described in my books. A longshot, but maybe there's something in one of them that may be what you're looking for."

Beast Boy brightened up after that, and turning around, he looked to run over to the half-demon to give her a hug. "Thanks Rae-"

"Beast Boy, look out!" She called out to him, but by the time he noticed the predicament, one of his feet landed in one of the holes and he began to fall down into the warehouse.

Covering his face, Beast Boy prepared himself for the feeling of concrete smacking against his body when he could no longer feel the air blow against him in the midst of falling. Opening his eyes, it was then that he noticed Raven had her shadow powers or whatever she called them on him, and slowly floated him back up to the roof.

A blush crossed the changeling's face and he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Uh, thanks... both for the book thing and for that.." He stuttered, to which Raven only sighed. "Idiot." Thankfully, her words had a playful edge to them and she began to hover in the air. "Now let's get back to the tower before the others get there first."

He couldn't agree more, the situation already quite an embarrassing one for him and he transformed into a hawk. "Race you there?" Beast Boy asked, already beginning to zoom off while Raven just kept up her usual pace.


	4. Trickery

Back at the Titan Tower, Beast Boy was in the sick bay, Raven leaning over him as he laid in one of the beds, her hands glowing blueish silver over his nose, and he could slowly feel the bone begin to correct itself and he could start to actually breath through his nose once more.

"That's as good as it's going to get. Anything else?" Raven asked him, who shook his head in response. A few lingering pains in his chest and gut, but they didn't hurt enough to bring up to the half-demon.

With that, Beast Boy got up out of the bed, stretching his limbs and giving them a proper shake. "Thanks Rae... how are you feeling?" He asked, giving her a small smirk while she just stood there with her usual gloomy look.

Without specifics, the two just kinda stood there awkwardly, and a soft blush crossed the changeling's face. "Physically I mean. Like how did the fight with Plasmus go?" He clarified, which caused her to raise her brows in realization.

"Fine. He's not much of a danger as he is just... annoying to take down." Raven answered with a shrug, and Beast Boy couldn't really say he disagreed.

Sure, it was annoying to get covered in gunk and have to sometimes swallow it, but even with his upgraded ability to shoot acid, he wasn't the most difficult to beat, as long as you know it's going to take a while with his durability.

"And from the Hiveling fight?" The mutant then brought up, scratching the back of his head and picking a few bits of sludge out of his grass green hair.

"Bruised still, but I barely even notice them anymore. They should all be gone within the week." She answered once more, before the sounds of doors opening outside the room interrupted the two.

Beast Boy went out to greet his returning friends, however the changeling felt the hand of Raven's press against his chest and push him back. "Uh, Raven? What's up?" He asked, confused.

"Robin is probably going to ask both you and I about your... state of mind during that whole Slade thing, I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for that." She told him, looking him in the eye. "And I was wondering if you'd be.. alright with me telling them about it?"

He blinked a few times, as if he didn't understand the question at first. "Uh, yeah of course-"The changeling began to answer, however it seemed those few words were enough to satisfy Raven, as she had already began to float off, leaving him even more confused.

Shaking his head, Beast Boy then exited the sick bay, walking out into the main room, where he could already see Raven talking with Robin, Cyborg and Starfire. The Tamaranean still looked rather worried while Cyborg and Robin seemed more curious than anything else, and honestly, that was what the mutant had expected.

Walking past to the kitchen, he still didn't a chance to really eat anything, so some leftover pizza would have to do. Placing one of the slices on a plate and putting it in the microwave, the words among the 4 became more and more audible, along with tones beginning to raise.

"So the mentioning of Terra is what gets our friend in such a poor state?" He overheard Starfire's concern-filled words, and Beast Boy thought about it for a second. Terra was either mentioned or explicitly shown to him each time he entered that berserk state, but it had to just be more than that, right?

"Could be, could also just be a coincidence. I'm not going to jump to conclusions until I know more." Raven answered, which seemed to satisfy no one in the group, an audible sigh escaping Robin's mouth.

 _Same bro.._  Beast Boy just chuckled in his head, wanting to know just as much as he did, maybe even more.

A few more words were exchanged, however more quietly, as it seemed the group had noticed him in the kitchen not so far away.

Hearing the irritating beeps of the microwave, Beast Boy quickly took the plate of pizza out of it and began to walk out of the room to eat.

"Titans, meeting!" Robin called out to the four, and the changeling couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.  _I just wanna eat._  He sighed, but this was a pretty serious thing going on, so he couldn't complain that much.

Soon enough, all the Titans gathered at the couch, Beast Boy taking one of the far sides so he had a place to rest his plate on, and it just so happened that Raven had decided to sit next to him.

"Any idea what the meeting's about?" Beast Boy decided to ask after gulping down a bite of pizza, to which Raven looked over at him with a somewhat curious gaze.

"... Want a bite?" The changeling offered, however he was answered with a shake of the head. "You'll find out soon enough." She deadpanned, idly blowing some of that dark hair out of her face.

"Well if that ain't ominous.." He sighed, setting down his plate as Robin began to speak. "As... well, all of you know, Beast Boy has found himself in .. unidle situations where he can't control his emotions and his actions."

The changeling couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the Boy Wonder's attempt to not offend him, looking around for a brief moment only to find all 4 pairs of eyes on him.  _Oh.._

"Because of this, until we can find out what is going on with him and how to prevent it, Beast Boy... you are not allowed to join the Teen Titans in missions." It seemed that he chose the wrong moment to take a bite of pizza, as that statement from his leader caused him to spit it out, landing right at Robin's feet.

"What?! That's completely-" "Let me finish, Beast Boy." Robin cut off the offended mutant, causing him to just lean back against his seat, grimacing. "This is for your own protection and the safety for those who we fight."  _Bullshit.._

"You are not restricted to the tower, and whenever we go out for pizza or any of the like, you are more than welcome to join us. You're still a full member of the Teen Titans and will be treated as such." The Boy Wonder went on, which didn't help much in Beast Boy's mood.

He went to protest once more, but Robin simply kept talking, not giving the green teen a chance to speak. "Raven, Cyborg and I will be working to find out exactly what is going on with you, and until then, you will be supplied some relaxation medicine to see if they have any effect."  _So I'm on crazy meds now?_

Well this wasn't going the way Beast Boy would've thought, or wanted, at all.

"That's all." Robin ended the meeting rather unenthusiastically, walking into one of the corridors before Beast Boy could catch him, leaving him sitting on the couch while he could feel all eyes on him.

"Uh, I'm .. sorry for not telling you sooner." Raven was the one to speak up to him, which caught the changeling off-guard, especially when feeling a soft hand on his shoulder. And while he was rather ticked off, looking over at the half-demon showed she seemed just as emotionful about the situation as he was, though his emotion was frustration while hers was... concern.

Plus he couldn't find it within himself to get mad at Raven, especially with her unusually wide eyes looking at him. "It's.. alright, I'm more upset with myself than anything." He sighed, returning the shoulder pat to the goth girl before getting up and walking over to the opposite corridor.

"What about your pizza?" Starfire called out to him just before he exited, and the changeling just shook his head. "I lost my appetite." Was his simple answer before he disappeared.

Beast Boy wasn't seen for the rest of the day, staying in his room, either napping away his sorrow or letting out his frustration by punching and throwing around his pillows.

By nighttime, a knock was on his door, and the changeling was very tempted to just let whoever was knocking screw off, but... he's already isolated himself before, and it did him no good. "Come in."

Beast Boy was sat on his bed as he heard the click of his door slide open and in came one of his best friends in Cyborg, a small cup with a few pills inside alongside a glass of water. "I'm going to leave these here for you in case you ever feel you need them." The cybernetic teen's voice, usually full of life and energy, was rather mellow and the changeling couldn't help but beat himself up over it.

"Thanks Cy. Hopefully we can play some Highway Racing tomorrow." He tried his best to sound excited, or just, not sad, but judging by Cyborg's sympathetic smile, it wasn't working well.

"Heh, sure thing buddy." The black male agreed, playfully rubbing the scruff of Beast Boy before walking out of the room. "Good night."

Staring at the glass of water and the pills, he thought about taking at least one, but he had gotten most of his frustration out, and really, a good long sleep sounded much more appealing than swallowing some junk. Easing off his gloves and shoes, Beast Boy didn't even bother to slip into pajamas, just laying down on his bed and forcing his eyes shut, slowly easing off into darkness.

_Tap tap...Tap tap...Tap tap..._

That's all Beast Boy heard, it had woken him up around 10 minutes ago, and al the changeling hoped for that it would go away... but it didn't. And soon enough, he decided to open his eyes and look around. Nothing, but the tapping noise just continued.

Was someone knocking at... Checking his alarm clock, he took a quick note of what the time was before continuing that thought. Was someone knocking at 11:22 PM?

Reluctantly getting up, Beast Boy walked over to his door and cracked it open, looking around the hallway to find not a single trace of anyone.  _Man, I am going crazy._  He idly thought, before turning around to walk back to his bed when he spotted a certain someone at his window.

"Terra...?" This was a dream, right? The changeling slowly forward as he was almost sure he spotted the blonde haired girl atop a rock knocking on his window.

 _Pinch check time... ow, ok not a dream._  Beast Boy noted, before opening up the window and seeing his former friend stand in front of him, a soft smile on her face as she brushed her hair of her face.

"Heh, was about to start throwing stones at your window next." She chuckled some, wrapping her arms around the back of Beast Boy and bringing him in for a surprising hug.

_What the fuck was going on?_

Once the hug was broken, the changeling took note of her new attire. She was dressed in... metal, a steel chestpiece and belt, along with several wrappings around her body, arms and legs. And two metal bolts were atop her head, almost like small pigtails.

"Terra... the fuck are you doing here?" Beast Boy whispered, blinking several times to make sure this wasn't any illusion or anything.

She... didn't answer at first, nervously rubbing her arm before finally answering. "Come with me, there's a place I want to show you." Well, that wasn't much of an answer, and the changeling pinched himself again.  _Ouch, yep, still not a dream._

"What... Terra, you abandoned me, you abandoned us... why would I-" He brought up, trying to make sense of the situation, only to get interrupted upon feeling the soft lips of Terra cover his mouth.

He was NOT expecting that, just melting in her grasp as her mouth pressed against his, her hands gripping his shoulders and even her tongue began to caress his lips before pulling away.

Beast Boy was more red than he was green at this point, becoming dizzy afterwards, and even reaching his fingers up to feel his lips, feeling the small bit of Terra's saliva on them.  _This was one fucking weird dream._

He recalled trying to kiss Terra before, on the ferris wheel, only to have it get interrupted by... Slade. Who she joined with over him and the Titans... So why did it feel so... fulfilling?

Trying to formulate words at the moment was a monumental task, and he could tell it was slightly amusing for the girl, hearing her giggles. "Sorry, should've warned you?" Her feisty, teasing tone only made the changeling more confused, and also... made his clothes tighten up?

"Will you come with me now?" She asked once more, already taking Beast Boy's hands within hers and dragging him out of his room and onto her stone.

Why was he allowing this..? Why was he letting her do this to him? And before the changeling could protest, they were already flying off, feeling the wind blow against his face as he nervously grabbed the rock.

"Terra, why-" Beast Boy once again tried to ask Terra questions, only to be silenced by a finger over his lips.  _I guess I'm just not allowed to talk.._

No matter how confused... and quite frankly, aroused, Beast Boy was, he had to admit he missed this. Flying around with Terra, admiring the stars, seeing the city lights below them, the window blowing against his face... It was all the pros of flying around as a bird and more.

"Got something I want to show you.." Terra whispered to him, her hot breath blowing against his earlobe and making him shiver. Her eyes soon drifted down and some more giggles were heard. "I guess you're excited?"

 _Ok, maybe skin-tight superhero suits weren't the best clothing to conceal boners._ Beast Boy, even through all his dirty thoughts and confusion took note of Terra's words and how she was acting. She had some sass to her... but to this extent?

"You've changed.." He managed to get out, expecting some sort of comment in return, but nothing. And looking over at Terra only showed a soft blush tinting her cheeks and her eyes looking forward.

Silence followed for several more minutes, letting Beast Boy really focus on what the hell was going on. Terra, who had betrayed the Teen Titans by aligning herself with Slade, had helped launch an assault on the Titans, and led him on until he had to fight Slade 1v1.

And yet here he was, riding around with the same girl after a few weeks to some mysterious place. And he was doing... nothing to stop it.. Maybe because he truly wanted this, so much so that it clouded all his other judgement?

Well he'd be a fool if he said he was over Terra just yet.

"We're here." Terra then told him, the stone they were on slowly lowering to the ground in front of... an abandoned chemical plant? Not quite the quiet river or the garden he was expecting...

"A nice and quiet place for us to do whatever you'd like..." She whispered to him once more, only making the pain in his loins even worse and stretching the fabric of his suit.

"Terra... I don't want to do .. any of what you're probably thinking. I want to talk." Beast Boy told the blonde, who just smiled and nodded his head. "Like I said, whatever you'd like.." She simply repeated, beginning to drag the changeling by his wrists into the plant.

It was... lit up surprisingly well, with both light bulbs and... candles? And each time a place looked suitable enough to stop in to talk, she just kept dragging him through rooms, until finally they stopped at a dead end.

Large containers of green liquid were attached to the walls, along with several computers and other technical devices, candles littered all over the place to light up the room just enough for Beast Boy to see the blonde in front of him, a smile on her face.

"So... what do you wish to do?" Terra asked once more, keeping a firm grip on the changeling's hands, getting to the point where he was sure his wrists were as white as snow under her fingers.

"Terra... why did you betray me... us?" Beast Boy just let it out, looking Terra in the eye, hoping for any sort of answer that would make sense, to make her innocent, and yet, she didn't say a word.

However, he could see her mouth "I'm sorry" to him, the look of excitement on her face soon reduced to that of sorrow and regret.  _What.._

Suddenly, a very blunt pain was felt in the back of Beast Boy's head, forcing him down to his knees. The sound of metal bouncing around was behind him, and reaching to the back of his head, he felt... blood. "Terra.." The changeling gasped, watching her look down at him, a frown crossing her face before walking over, out of sight.  _No.._

"Hello Beast Boy."  _No.. There's no way.._  "Like I said, a very, very good actress."  _Why was he so fucking stupid?!_ She led him to Slade, and he let her do it... like a fucking idiot!

"It's surprising just how gullible you are.. But I guess that's what young love does to one." No.. he wasn't going to let him talk down to him like this. Turning his face around, he spotted a pipe on the ground, some scarlet red painted along it.  _She.. let that happen._  She let Slade hit him in the back of the head with a pipe.

He lifted an arm up in an attempt to fight, only to get met with a boot right across his jaw, sending him rolling around the cold steel floor.

Pain was screaming throughout his face and head, and yet Beast Boy tried to get up once more, seeing Slade walk up to him, pure hatred running through the changeling's body. Terra meanwhile was peeking out of the doorframe, looking... scared, regretful of what was going on.

He was fooled once, she wasn't fooling him with that again. Blood began to leak out of his nose once more, along with his mouth now, having no taste but to taste his own blood.

"Fuck you.." Beast Boy spat at the two, some of his spat blood landing on Slade's boot. "Ah, some venom. Good, I'm starting to like you more and more." Was Slade's response, however, if he actually liked the changeling, he wasn't doing a great job of showing it, as another punch sent Beast Boy flying further down the room.

He began to feel one of his cheeks began to swell up, and his vision began to get blurry, seeing the faint colors of the villain walking forward more. Beast Boy was just in no condition to fight, especially after the pipe to the back of his head concussed him, and yet he still tried, however his body just wasn't strong enough to support him and he was forced to watch the masked villain stand over him.

Beast Boy noticed the pipe was once again in his hands, some of his own blood dripping down it and landing on his face.  _So this is how it ends... I fall to my own stupidity._  He thought solemnly, however he didn't dare show off any sad or sorrow to Slade, staying defiant until the end with a snarl on his face.

And that's when Slade raised the pipe up in the air, and the changeling closed his eyes, ready for the final blow... when the sound of glass breaking made him open his eyes once more, seeing the green gunk in the glass containers beginning to fall on him.  _What the.._

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and several tables began to flip over, the monitors atop of them flying around in random directions. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"  _Raven.._  Beast Boy thought, how did she know he was here... Quite frankly, he didn't care, at least he didn't care anymore than he was thankful.

The sounds of crashing metal and exploding computers however began to get quieter and quieter, until the changeling's eyes could no longer stay open. He tried all he could to fight off the darkness consuming his mind and gaze, but soon enough, he eventually fell into the pitch black inside his eyes to the sounds of destruction around him, along with the flowing acid covering him.


	5. Waking Up

"Raven.." A voice was heard, causing Beast Boy to slowly shift around. His mind was beginning to wake up, however he couldn't find the strength to open his eyes just yet.

 _Raven._  He just repeated in his mind, flashing back to the last memory he had before falling unconscious.

He felt the icky, smelly acid begin to cover his body, the building he was in began to shake uncontrollably, and of course... the mantra of Raven, however instead of being the calm and concentrated words uttered that the changeling was use to, it was filled with rage.

His last sight was Slade standing over him, bloody pipe in hand before he could no longer keep his eyes open and the smashing of glass was what greeted him next.  _Probably how I was covered in that junk._

"Is he awake?" Beast Boy managed to recognize the half-demon's voice, drowsy and filled with anxiety, only to hear her let out a disappointed sigh. "Why don't you go and get yourself some of the rest? I can do the watching over of him tonight."

And that was Starfire.  _Watching over of me?_  He thought curiously, was he in that bad of shape?

 _Well I did take a pipe to the back of the head._  The changeling thought to himself, but before listening more. "I got this, don't worry, Star. Just get some sleep." Was Raven's response, which wasn't very surprising. When she was determined to do something, she was probably the most stubborn person around.

"Ooh, friend Raven, you tell me not to worry, and yet you're only doing this because you are the one doing the worrying, correct?" The Tamaranean countered, which then left the room in a small state of silence.

"...I was the one who found him laying in that plant, Star. I saw the full extent of what was done to him. Of course I'm going to be worried." The Azarthian explained, sorrow in her tone that racked at Beast Boy's heart. "Just... let me have this, please?"

From then on, Beast Boy heard nothing but a few steps and the opening and closing of a door before darkness enveloped the changeling's gaze once more and he passed out.

Slowly, Beast Boy woke up, a groan escaping his mouth as he finally had the strength to lift his eyelids.

An idle beeping sound was a bit annoying for the changeling, but seeing as how it was a vital monitor, he'd let it slide.

Other than that, the only other noise in the room was the soft snores of Raven, crashed out in one of the seats right across from the bed Beast Boy was in. And even in his tired state, it'd be a lie to say she didn't look... pretty. Having heard her be stressed out before, seeing her be so peaceful, sleeping away with gentle noises escape her lips.

She still had on her cloak, but the hood was pulled down to expose the short, dark hair of the half demon, reaching her shoulders and not going beyond that. A single few strand bangs had laid upon her resting face, resting over her eyelids and cheeks, which in all honesty, made her seem more beautiful than if they were brushed to the side.

Her arms were crossed, while her legs were stretched out, and Beast Boy now had a chance to get a near full view of them.

Previous attempts in admiring the long limbs of Raven's had resulted in a rather quick discovery and a smack across the face, but since they were crashed out in the same room with each other, god he never thought he'd see the day, might as well check them out.

Raven didn't exactly understand the human attraction to legs, which only left Beast Boy confused in how other species hadn't caught on to their beauty. Her's in particular was just... perfect.

They were long, without a hint of any hair on them and almost had an hourglass figure to them. Her ankles and calves were rather skinny, but as you looked up, the... thickness, so to call it, just grew and grew, resulting in scrumptious looking thighs that seemed to be as smooth as one could imagine until the cloak and leotard of Raven's hid arguably the best part of a girl's body.

 _Ok, don't get too perverted.._  Beast Boy idly thought to himself, already feeling the tightness in his suit begin to grow and thus his eyes darted off somewhere else. The windows had the curtains open, and it exposed a pretty, orange sky with a quarter of the sun rising over the horizon.

 _Morning._  The changeling concluded, a clock not visible for him so he just had to assume it was early morning, maybe 6-7AM? Either way, the rest of the Titans would be up soon, knowing how much of an early bird Robin is, with others like Starfire and Cyborg not short in following.

Beast Boy and Raven were usually the ones who were caught sleeping in, to the point where Cyborg would play pranks on the two by sounding the Tower's alarms to wake them up. Which was really goddamn mean and the cybernetic teen usually caught two earfulls from the two. After of course, they changed their underwear and pants.

With nothing else to really observe besides the sleeping body of Raven who'd probably finish the job Slade started if she caught him looking her up and down like he was previously, Beast Boy just figured he'd catch some more rest.

However, the door to the sick bay was soon opened up, keeping the changeling's eyes open as a very muscular figure walking through. "Alright, new nutrition for.." Cyborg spoke, cutting himself off as he noted of his eyes being open.

"Beast Boy!" The half-robot then near-yelled in excitement, making Beast Boy jump in his bed and Raven shooting awake, looking rather disturbed and angry until realizing the situation.

Cyborg had jogged on over to the side of the changeling's bed, "Hey Grass Stain, 'bout time you woke up!" He said rather rather gleefully, causing a smile to cross Beast Boy's face.

"How are you feeling?" it was Raven's turn to talk now, and to be honest, he wasn't feeling all that hot. His head still hurt quite a bit, with the right side of his face feeling numb, plus just overall pains in his chest and stomach. "Eh, not too great, but it could be worse."

A slight frown crossed the half-demon's mouth, but her eyes still shined of relief, probably to see him be awake at all.

"Could definitely be worse. We're thankful that Raven found you when she did, or else things could've been... a lot worse to say the least." Cyborg explained, scratching the back of his head and chuckling slightly as if to try and lighten what he said somewhat, but what he did say was crystal clear for the changeling.

 _If Raven wasn't there, I'm a dead man._  He concluded, though with the rattling of his brain, Beast Boy should consider himself lucky he was able to just talk and hear just fine, though his other functions remained a mystery.

"Let's not think about that right now." Raven said rather sternly, and while Beast Boy may be concussed, he even could see the effect the situation was having on her. That HE put on her for being stupid enough to believe Terra had changed.

"Um... Cy, mind giving... well, us, a minute or two to talk?" The changeling eventually found the courage to ask, which seemed to surprise both parties involved. But Cyborg wasn't dumb, and just seeing the look on the twos' faces, he could get a hint of what they wanted to talk about, and he nodded his head. "There's a button on one of the armrests on the beds. It will alert me and I'll be here faster than your little cheetah butt can run, so don't be afraid to press it if you need anything."

And with that, the half-robot left the room, leaving Raven standing by the bed and Beast Boy... well, laying in the bed.

"So... did you see me leave with her or...?" Was his first question to her, and surprisingly, she shook his head.

"I heard you open your door, and figured I'd check on you. Both your door and your window was opened, so I knew something was up." Raven began to explain, her hands pressing against the bed, close to his side.

Beast Boy had even more questions, but he figured he'd just keep his mouth shut until he knew she was done talking.

"So... I went out and looked for you. It took me a while since there wasn't really any leads, so I just had to fly around town until I saw you and Terra walk into that lab." She continued, her voice slowly beginning to drift off, still being unable to look him in the eye.

"I went in there, walked through the rooms and eventually found Terra. She seemed... terrified and gave me some nonsensical excuses. I almost bought them until.." Her voice then fully drifted off, her fingers rapidly tapping against the white sheets of the medical bed.

Beast Boy gulped, reaching a hand to slowly stroke the top of Raven's hand, trying his best to help her. If SHE was getting emotional, then he knew it must've not been a pretty scene.

"Thanks.." She quickly blurted out before letting out a sigh and continuing. "..I saw Slade standing over you. Terra was trying to obstruct me finding you, but she couldn't stop me in time to see you lay in a pool of your own blood."

Beast Boy figured as much, one of his last memories being her using her mantra in a anger-filled tone and the entire place shaking under him.

"So... a part of me just snapped. I struck out at the two, I don't remember how exactly I did it, but by the time I snapped out of it, the building was beginning to collapse, the two were gone and you were being covered in that weird acid-like liquid.." She choked out the words, seeming that more and more she went on, more... enveloped in her own sorrow she became.

"I spent the rest of the night healing you. There were... many moments where I thought I had lost you. But eventually, I managed to get you in a state where I felt it was safe to bring you back to the Tower and you've been here ever since." She finished, slowly pulling her hand away from Beast Boy's, a small bit of disappointment running through his head that he could no longer feel her soft skin.

"And how long have I been out?" Beast Boy then asked, processing what Raven told him in the process. All of it just felt like a stab to his heart and he had to choke back tears. "Tomorrow would've made it 3 weeks." Raven answered blandly.

"Shit.." Beast Boy thought out loud, tapping his fingers against the bed before just shaking his head, "Raven, I'm so sorry.." The idle beeps of the vital monitor slowly began to increase in speed, and the changeling could feel his heart beginning to pound against his chest.

Raven walked over to a counter besides his bed, grabbing a cup and a small pill, handing both over to Beast Boy. "Here, this'll help relax you. Also there's nothing to be sorry over." She reassured him, which did nothing to help the green teen.

Reluctantly, he took the pill and swallowed it down with some help from the water he was provided. Usually he'd decline the medicine, but with Raven being the one offering it and given how events went down the last time he turned down the pill, it'd just be better if he took it.

"Of course there is. I was... so stupid and I nearly got killed because of it." The changeling insisted, the tip of his tongue poking at the inside of his cheek nervously.

"To be fair, you always almost get yourself killed. All of us do. Kinda makes use who we are." The empath tried to sympathize with Beast Boy, but it wasn't working, even with the medicine beginning to take course.

"But this time, I wasn't nearly killing myself because I was protecting something or fighting off a bad guy. I did it because I fell for a stupid ass ruse." He kept trying to beat himself up over the situation, but it seemed his self-deprecation was starting to get on the nerves of Raven, her brows furrowing.

"You weren't in a good state of mind. So much weight was put on your shoulders that day, what with your mental state and your suspension from combat. Stop blaming yourself." She much more aggressively told the changeling, leaning forward over one of the armrests and looking at Beast Boy with an stern look.

Whatever the impact Raven thought the move would have on him, Beast Boy heavily doubted it was... arousal.

Their eyes were locked, he was able to get a good view on all of the empath's facial features, from her beautiful bone structure, the sexy way some strands of hair hung over her pretty eyes, her thin lips pursing in a way that made them ripe for kissing...

A pale pink blush crossed her face as she realized just how close the two were and how Beast Boy was reacting, which didn't help him out at all.

 _Goddamn it, Rae._  He sighed in his mind, idly tapping his fingers on his bed as she broke the eye contact, fluffing up her cloak as if to try and hide her embarrassment.

"I'll... try to, Rae, thanks.." Beast Boy broke the silence, shooting her a nervous smile, which she only seemed to catch at the last second after turning back to look at the changeling.

"That's all I ask." She responded, the corners of her lips pointing upward for a split second before she decided to change the subject. "Want to go out and greet the others?"

\----

Getting up wasn't exactly the problem. It was staying up. Raven just thought it was because he hadn't exactly walked in 3 weeks, but Beast Boy knew his messed-up head contributed in it as well.

He had to focus on putting strength in his legs, analyzing each step he took to make sure he wasn't stepping on anything, it was... very inconvenient. Which was why he sucked up his pride and agreed to greet the others on a wheelchair after some convincing.

Being wheeled out into one of the hallways by Raven, they eventually reached the main ops room, where Cyborg was in the kitchen, making some hot dogs while Robin and Starfire was sat at the dining table, talking while eating completely different meals.

 _Apparently a plate of ketchup with a side dish of waffles was an appetizing breakfast._ Beast Boy gagged, however, his disgust of the Tamaranean's meal choices didn't last long as Robin had looked up and spotted the changeling.

"Hey, about time!" His voice was rather excited and he began walking on over. Cyborg simply waved from the oven, which Beast Boy didn't blame him for. The two had already spoke a bit, and he doubted that his cybernetic friend wanted to crowd him.  _Probably stank with meat anyway._

However, despite the several second advantage Robin had, Starfire quickly zipped past, looking to barrel over Beast Boy, who was defenseless to stop it. "Uh, Starfire..." The changeling tried to tell her to slow down, but thankfully a force field was brought up directly between him and the Tamaranean, bringing her speeding to a stop and causing her to comically crash and fall to the ground.

"Glad to have you back, bro." The Boy Wonder would be the first to greet him with a surfer-like tone, causing him the changeling to raise a brow for a second and chuckle some before he returned the smile. "Good to know that was just as awkward for you as it was for me." It was Robin's turn to chuckle, scratching the back of his head nervously, but the changeling decided to let him off.

"Heh, don't worry about it." Beast Boy laughed, reaching a hand up to give his leader a high five before Starfire eventually stopped seeing stars and greeted the mutant as well.

"Beast Boy, I am so glad you are doing okay! You're certainly the very strong willed!" She mushed, her arms now outstretched for a hug, but a soft cough from Raven and something silent exchanged between the two seemed to change the Tamaranean's mind and she instead decided on a few head pats.

"So, when do you think he can start training again?" Robin then asked the empath, some concern still edged on his face, to which the changeling could definitely understand.

"Not sure, he tried walking out of the sick bay a few times but each time I had to save him from face planting. Can't imagine what running and jumping around would be like." Raven answered with just enough humor in her tone for Beast Boy to chuckle over.

"I could've caught myself!" He looked up and stuck his tongue out at the half-demon who just rolled her eyes.

"Nonetheless, we're all glad to see you are awake, Beast Boy! And we will stop the Slade from ever getting his grubby hands on you!" Starfire gleefully stated, smashing her fist into her palm for empathise on her last sentence.

 _Right, Slade.. Might as tell them how it all happened._  "Speaking of whom... I thought I'd let you guys know things... from my perspective at least, since I figured Raven has already told you guys what she saw."

Robin looked at him, concerned, as if relaying the information would give him another concussion.  _And here I'd thought he'd be dying to know anything he could on Slade._

"You sure, Beast Boy? You don't have to if you don't want to." He asked the changeling, who quickly nodded his head. "In my current state, the most I can do is tell you guys all I know."

\---

And that's what Beast Boy did, describing both the situation that put him out for a few weeks, as well as when he had fought a Slade bot while the others were battling Plasmus.

There were probably details that he could've left out, mainly his whole... clothing predicament while riding with Terra, but he just wanted to be thorough.

"Thanks Beast Boy." Robin was the first to speak up once the changeling was done, standing up from the couch and walking over to where Beast Boy was sat.

"Do you remember the address of the plant you and Terra went to? Why of all places would they ambush you there..?" The Boy Wonder asked, leaving Beast Boy in deep thought as he tried to remember. "I don't think I even saw an address. We landed within the fence of the place."

"I do. 72 Hop Road." Raven answered, to which Robin's face lit up and he looked over towards Cyborg. "Cy-" "Already on it." It seemed the cybernetic teen already knew what his leader was going to ask, looking down at his arm where Beast Boy could see him typing away on the digital keyboard.

"Alright... 72 Hop Road... Drummond Labs was what it was called. It was .. an animal testing facility." Cyborg began to explain, lowering his tone on the second sentence and giving the changeling a sympathetic look, to which Beast Boy responded by giving him a half smile in appreciation. Eating meat was one thing, but torturing animals for the sake of 'research'? How he would love to give some of those 'scientists' the butt-whooping they deserved.

"They mainly tested on strays, testing the side effects of medicine and other disease treatment options, but they were shut down by the state because of shady operations and a number of felony charges on the founder, Earl Drummond."  _Good riddance._

"Does it say what the operations were? Maybe what Earl did to get charged?" Raven asked, to which Cyborg shook his head. "No, but I'm sure if I can get into the town records, I can find it rather easily. They've only been shut down for a month and the court case for Ray is still ongoing."

"For one month? That would mean that Beast Boy and Terra arrived there only a week after the shutting down of the place, correct?" Starfire was the one to add to the subject now, to which Cyborg nodded his head.

"Well that's pretty suspicious. Should we give Mr. Torture-Face a visit and see what we can get out of him?" Beast Boy suggested, cracking his knuckles. "I'll bring the jumper cables!" His tone was humorous enough, but there was some truth to what he said, how he wanted to teach this 'Earl', what a nerd name, a lesson, one way or another.

Robin just gave him a bland look, "Well, let's see what he actually did before jumping to assumptions. Besides, if the court case is still ongoing, I doubt his lawyers would allow us to interrogate him." He thoroughly explained, clearly a bit ticked off at the suggestion, even in jest, of torture.

"Plus I doubt it may even be necessary, if he was associated with Slade, maybe it'll be in the records." Cyborg added, standing up from the couch as well. "I'll go to the Town Hall and see if I can't find anything more on him."

The Boy Wonder nodded his head, then looking over at Starfire, "Good, me and Starfire can talk with the employees of the lab and see if they can tell us anything town records can't."

 _No surprise there._  Beast Boy internally chuckled, everyone knew Robin had a crush on Starfire and how usually he put him and her together on missions like these just to hang out with her more. His cheeks even turned pink when mentioning her!

"And me?" Raven's deadpan voice then broke the changeling out of his thoughts, only to see Robin shake his head slightly, as if he was stuck in his thoughts as well. "You'll stay here and help Beast Boy get back to his goofy self, plus any more research you can do on Beast Boy's angered state would help."

 _Oh right. My 'berserk' state._  Beast Boy had almost forgotten about it, but it seemed in the time that he was unconscious, research on the subject hadn't brought the others anywhere.  _Turns out there isn't much information on animal-shapeshifting humans getting really angry at times._

"Don't worry, the rest of us will help as well, but with the rest of us looking into Drummond Labs out of the tower, you're the only one who can help Beast Boy right now." Robin explained, confusing Beast Boy a bit considering no one else had said anything, but looking at Raven, she had a bit of an odd face.

"Wait, so ya'll are leaving right now?" The changeling asked, looking up at Robin.

"Yeah, it being morning time means we'll have a lot of time to investigate than if it would be the afternoon or even mid-day." The Boy Wonder answered, and the look on his face suggested he wanted to say more, but whatever it was, he held it back.

Beast Boy wanted to say something as well, complain that he wasn't going as well, but he knew he'd just slow things down rather significantly, plus if any complications happened with his concussion, at least he's at the Tower and can receive immediate medical attention.

Plus... alone time with Raven was something the mutant couldn't really complain about, especially now. She seemed to understand his struggles the most and sympathized with them and he felt more comfortable in telling her how he felt.

Not to mention, just as a physical appearance, Beast Boy couldn't really think of anyone as good of an overall look as her, even with her cloak hiding most of her body. And without it...

"Starfire to Beast Boy, do you hear me?" Starfire's loud voice then broke Beast Boy back into reality, leaving him with a flushed face and his hands on his lap. "Uh, yeah?" The changeling nonchalantly answered, causing the orange-skinned hero to let out an exasperated sigh.

"He was just zoned out, Star, don't worry." Raven chuckled softly, giving the Tamaranean a pat of the back which seemed to comfort her enough.

"Zoned out..? I don't think I understand." Starfire, however, seemed to puzzled however, this time over another human expression, which seemed to happen at least once a day.  _At least she's never shy about it._

"It's when you're thinking really hard, it kinda blocks out everything going on around you." Beast Boy explained, which made Starfire smile wide. "Ah, it is like Raven's meditation, correct?" She beamed, "Maybe you'd like to join me and our friend for when we meditate together?"

Beast Boy couldn't help but chuckle, both at the offer and at Raven's reaction, where her face turned white and her mouth was gaped. They usually meditated in Raven's room, and while Starfire meant nothing by the suggestion, in fact it was kinda cute, the implication of the two being alone in a room with the changeling was certainly... interesting, not so much for the empath.

"I've always wanted to join Raven in her meditating, so I guess one session wouldn't hurt." He answered, Starfire's eyes lighting up at his words while Raven couldn't look more embarrassed, though the changeling suspected it would soon turn to anger.

"Oh joyous! It will surely be a wonderful occasion!" The Tamaranean said in quite clear happiness, and that happiness was probably the only reason Beast Boy wasn't in Hell right now, burning eternally.

"Well me and Robin are doing the heading out now, along with Cyborg. Don't you two meditate without my presence!" She gushed, giving Beast Boy an uncharacteristic soft hug, before using all that strength of hers on suffocating Raven instead, who couldn't look any whiter.

Soon, she zipped off out of the main door and he was left alone with the empath, who shot the green boy a glare.

Beast Boy just lifted his hands in surrender, unable to hide a smile of amusement at the whole thing while she just looked pissed. "Hey, uh, don't beat on the handicap guy!" He chuckled, shaking around in his wheelchair to make his point.

Some seconds of silence passed, and the changeling wondered what was going through her mind.  _Probably how to kill me and hide the body._

"One session, on the roof and then you owe me something in return." Raven finally said blandly, pointing a finger at Beast Boy.

"On the roof? But that takes away from the fantasy!" He was only half serious when he said that, and it didn't seem his 'joke' was very funny for the empath.

"Yeah, I'm sure you fantasize about Starfire a lot." She retorted, slowly moving to the back of Beast Boy, gripping the handlebars and beginning to move him around.

 _It can be kinda difficult not to._  Starfire was a gorgeous woman, even if she wasn't human. Long scarlet hair, pretty green eyes, a rocking body.. But he didn't think he could be with her in that way for numerous reasons.

"Heh, she wouldn't be the only pretty girl there." The mutant decided to test the waters with some soft flirting, looking up to see her reaction.

It was what he had expected, a small blush, only to fade away and turn into an annoyed look once she saw he was looking. "When is she coming over?" Raven then deadpanned, which forced out a laugh from Beast Boy, however a small part of him was annoyed.

 _You're fricking hot, accept it!_  He wanted to blurt out, but he may be coming on too strong if he did that. Wait, why was he worried about coming onto Raven?

Well maybe because he was now getting attracted to Raven. During the earliest days of the Teen Titans to the day where he met Terra, there was also a bit of affection he had towards her, but it never got to the point where he gushed over her. And even when Terra was around, that affection never died, just simmered down since a large part of his heart was for Terra.

But... ever since Terra's betrayal, he never really considered Raven as a... not as a replacement, Beast Boy respected Raven too much to consider her that, but as someone to overtake his heart, so to speak.

Was he ready to move on from Terra? Looking up at Raven as she wheeled him to... where was she wheeling him? Regardless, just looking at her, how beautiful she was....

_Yeah, I am._


	6. Recovery

The next couple days were pretty stressful for most in the Tower. Robin and Cyborg had trying anything they could to find more information on Drummond Labs, asking employees and checking town records to discover very little.

The employees all just said they were following Earl Drummond's orders, with guarantees of pay raises if they do what he told them. Town records simply repeated what Cyborg had previously said on the company, and the court case of Earl's was experiencing complications and nothing of value was discovered from investigating it.

Meanwhile Beast Boy had gotten better in his walking, no longer getting blurry-eyed or dizzy when he walked, however the placement of his feet was just off and caused numerous trips. It was like he had to learn how to walk all over again.

Not to mention his transformations were having difficulties as well. He couldn't transform into anything bigger than a house dog for the time-being, and the same walking problems of his persisted even when transformed into something small. Luckily he could fly around as a bird without much challenge, so that's how he traveled through the Tower.

Of course, when he actually needed something to eat or to drink, someone else had to get it for him, someone else usually being Raven. Starfire's cooking would only be appetizing for a Tamarerean while Raven was at least nice enough to make him salads, though not eating tofu was a bit of a challenge for the changeling.

Of course, he hadn't told the empath of his feelings for her quite yet, as while he was dying to have that void in his heart filled, just jumping onto her with it would more than likely earn him another broken heart and more.

But the fact that she was an empath... kinda complicated things. Did she know about him instantly feeling up when she was around, how affectionate he felt when they talked? If she did, she was doing a good job in not showing it.

Which just frustrated Beast Boy. Patience was never a strong suit of his, and it got to the point where his thoughts drifted off in the wrong direction.

That did happen a lot recently. Perverted thoughts, arousal that forced him to sit in very awkward positions to hide it. He thought he left all those dumb thoughts behind at 13, but apparently not.

Maybe it was due to the whole Terra thing, or his admittance to himself that, yeah, he had a crush of Raven, but it was still an odd situation. He couldn't stay around and chat with Starfire for more than 5 minutes before his skin-tight suit just grew tighter and he had to excuse himself.

She of course was much more understanding on the whole thing, since privacy and 'lewdness' was something somewhat loss on Tamarereans. In fact, Beast Boy was pretty sure Robin had to convince her that she had to wear clothes around the Tower and in public, as scandalous as they were, which didn't help.

Raven however caught him one time while she was helping him walk, and not because she saw it. His cheek still stung after receiving that slap, though he wished he could somehow convince her that it was just random and not because he was really into her and close proximity with her just kinda got him like that.

Right now, he was in the gym, bouncing gracefully on an elliptical, his muscles straining as he shoved his feet down onto the rubber footholds. This was one of Robin's suggestions on how he could begin to walk normally again, and in theory it wasn't a bad idea. It was practically a treadmill without the risk of tripping. At least how Beast Boy saw it. Robin made sure to nag him on what made the two machines different.

 _God, did he loved exercise._  The changeling chuckled in his mind. Exercise wasn't a bad thing at all, in fact it could be pretty fun, but it just seemed like a second job to the Boy Wonder and any attempt to make it something fun would instantly be met with disapproval and a stern talking down to.

Beast Boy liked Robin, he really did, he was a fine leader at his young age, but god did he try too hard to be a  _great_  leader. Like he had to prove himself, to tell everyone that he could do this, when no one is questioning him. And it got to the point where he sounded more and more like a father nagging to his 5 year old child than an actual leader of a crime-fighting super team.

Several more seconds passed of him pushing and pulling on the leather-wrapped bars attached to the machine, something that, again, Robin told him to do despite the fact that the machine really only needed the legs to get going to properly work.

Raven was sat in the room, sitting on a nearby bench with her face buried in a book as thick as her thigh. And that was fairly challenging, considering just how thick-  _Shut up!_  Beast Boy snapped at himself, trying his best to not get perverted at the smallest of things. Sure, he had embraced that he was attracted to her now, but treating her like a piece of meat, or tofu in Beast Boy's case, sickened the changeling.

A beeping noise then came from the elliptical, and looking down at the miniature screen on the machine, a flashing 30:00 was on it. A sigh of both relief and of exhaustion came from Beast Boy's mouth, stopping the movement of his legs and arms, waiting for the machine to slowly stop before getting off.

A towel was tossed his way, the changeling happily accepting it, wiping off all the sweat from his face and head, his matted hair still sticking to his skin regardless of how much he wiped. His wheelchair then was pushed over his way, giving him something to sit down on.

"Alright, once you catch your breath, you can stand up and see how the walking goes." Raven instructed him, and Beast Boy could see the pain in her gaze. She practically had to hang out with him all day, only taking breaks to meditate while he was watching TV or playing video games.

And he couldn't exactly blame her. Going from avoiding him every day to hanging out with him every day was a rather drastic change in schedule, and there were only so many bad jokes she could take.

And while Beast Boy completely understood the look of dread smothering her face, it still pained him.

He knew the chances of them actually being in a relationship was as unlikely as her laughing at one of his jokes, but it hurt to look at her, get enamoured, imagine the two of them together, only to get hit in the face with a hard dose of reality and realize why it'll never happen.

Especially when they were spending time together, like Beast Boy wanted, but Raven looked like she would rather be in Hell, fighting her dad than be with him.

Thoughts constantly ran through his head, the non-perverted ones wrecking him while he just fought off the perverted ones.  _Should I tell her? Ask her out to 'hang out' and see how it goes from there? Maybe anonymous letters describing his feelings to her? Ask the others for advice?_

Of course, none of those actually happened, because while the changeling considered himself a brave man who had fought against countless bad guys, get his ass beat by them, and get back up to repeat the process until eventually he and the Titans won, the concept of talking about his feelings was a fear greater than any villain or devious plot.

By the time Beast Boy had actually escaped his mind, he realized his breathing was returned mostly to normal and he didn't feel his muscles scream in agony.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself up out of his wheelchair and placed his feet firmly against the ground. The first few steps wasn't what Beast Boy struggled with, it was staying on track for the steps after that. His feet just comically collided together whenever he thought he actually had it down, and he ended up face planting on the ground, something that actually amused Raven and not when he was actually trying to amuse her.

Looking over towards Raven, who had sat back down on the bench with her face buried in the paper pages, a small smile crossed his face.  _Ok... you can do this._  "Hey Rae, can I get some supporting words?" Beast Boy called over to her, who boredly looked up from her novel and looked at him with a blank look.

"Uh.. you can do it?" She confusedly said, clearly not wanting to put much effort into her 'encouraging' words. "Aw, come on!" The changeling laughed, "I know you can do better than that."

"You're learning how to walk again, not competing in the Olympics. I don't think you need my encouragement to do it." She retorted, annoyance crossing her face with her brows furrowing and her lips dropping into a frown.

"Well clearly my previous attempts to do it hasn't been that great." Beast Boy was starting to get a bit irritated, and it seemed that Raven was catching onto it, as she put a bookmark in her book, placing it down.

"What do you expect me to do?" She then asked him, perking a brow up in curiosity.

"Um.." He hadn't exactly thought about that.  _Be more enthusiastic?_  He wondered, but then that just sounded dumb, considering 'enthusiastic' was never Raven's thing.

Conceding the point, Beast Boy shook his head. "Sorry." Was all he said, before taking a step forward to begin walking.

"Stop." Raven told him, causing the changeling to freeze. She still looked rather annoyed, so he was prepared to get an earful.

"You've been apologizing too much recently. I've already told you once to stop feeling so bad for yourself once before."

Well that was a surprise. Beast Boy had told her he would try and not blame himself over everything, but it seemed he had failed to stay to his word, indicating that Raven had to bring it up once again.

In fact, he had to fight back apologizing for apologizing too much! So instead of another 'Sorry', he just nodded his head, guilt raking his chest.

"If anything, I should be apologizing to you. I know how frustrating this is for you and I should be more supportive."

Now it was Beast Boy's turn to frown, never liking to see any friend is blame themselves for something stupid he did.

"You don't have to force it, you know. It's no secret you haven't been liking this, neither have I really." He breathed, only after finishing his sentence did he realize what he said.

"I don't mean I don't like hanging out with you, I really do! It's just that I wish it was on different terms!" Beast Boy instantly stammered, the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment as he once again analyzed his statement.

"Fuck, I mean... as long as you'd like to! Maybe once this is all said and done, we can go out?... Wait, not like a date or anything, just as friends, you know! Two friends just hanging out as friends doing friend things?"

The changeling wanted nothing more than to just get sucked into the endless abyss that was space to hide his shame... not that there was anything shameful about it! His entire face was hot to the touch, and while he couldn't see, Beast Boy was sure it was as red as a beet.

All the while in his stuttering and stammering, the look of amusement on Raven's face was lost on him until he finally felt he could breath after talking so much.

It seemed though that she quickly caught on to him finishing up his rapid sentences, as her smile then returned to a blank pout, though Beast Boy could still see the look of mirth in her eyes.

"Well... despite all that word vomit... your request is a bit appealing. If I told you that if we would hang out once this is all done, would that be encouraging enough for you?" Her voice serenaded him, his heart racing a mile a minute and he had to physically restrain himself by pushing down on his own shoulders to prevent him from jumping in the air in joy.

"Totally, Rae! Thanks!" He tried his best to not seem like he was jumping out of his skin, but it wasn't difficult.

Though if Raven noticed the changeling's quite obvious enthusiasm, she didn't entertain it any further than a small smirk crossing her face as she began reading her book once more, any more of her reactions hidden behind a mountain of pages.

\---

"Come on, Beast Boy!" Robin yelled out at him, the sounds of earth shaking and machinery booting up near drowning him out for the mutant.

Another few days have passed, and Beast Boy was getting better and better. He could now transform into anything as big as a grizzly bear, and walking was pretty much something he could do without thinking about it. The problem now was combat and running, and Robin had been working him hard in obstacle courses and other manners of exercise to get him back on track.

In situations where Beast Boy wasn't running through obstacle courses, he was in sparring matches, battling either a bot or one of the other Titans. And often time he got knocked on his ass, usually followed by an apology and a stern talking to by the Boy Wonder on what he could've done better.

Thankfully, he had at least one of Starfire or Cyborg to join in on the training, giving the changeling someone to work out with and generally spend time with. Raven had gone back to her usual self, however she had been spending a lot more time meditating, though that was due to all the missed meditation she had during the few days she spent helping Beast Boy walk.

Investigations on Drummond Labs had all but hit a dead end, as trying to get in contact with Earl Drummond have proven to be a nigh impossible task, with both his set of lawyers and law enforcement both stepping in to stop the Titans from interfering in the court cases. Anyone who had any sort of relation with Earl had been talked to and all either denied anything that the Titans brought up or echoed what the former employees had told them.

However, all that was on Beast Boy's mind was to get back to normal, and right now, that was running through one of the more complex obstacle courses the Titans had set up. He was about half way through it all, but it was only going to get more difficult from there.

Several stone-covered bots had emerged from the ground, firing lasers towards him. The changeling used various transformations to help dodge them, varying from hawks to cheetahs to even grizzly bears, using their thick skin and fur to absorb some of the blows.

The lasers of course still hurt to take, but they weren't deadly by any means, and as long as he could keep his momentum going, they wouldn't halt him unless he took too many.

Of course, the lasers weren't the only thing Beast Boy had to focus on, several beams were underground, launching up whenever who was at the control panel of the course wished them to.

Robin was in charge in this case, and while Beast Boy knew just what a competitor the Boy Wonder was, he also knew he wasn't doing all he could to stop the changeling from completing the course.

Managing to get into a split between the two cannons firing at him, he waited until he could both see and hear them beginning to fire up. Using his naturally quick instincts and advanced hearing, Beast Boy managed to hop in the air and fly up into the sky as a woodpecker, letting the cannons fire and destroy each other.

It was a common tactic by the Titans when presented with the obstacle, but with how just a few days ago, Beast Boy couldn't walk properly, it felt pretty damn good to accomplish. And it seemed that the others felt the same way, hearing Starfire and Cyborg's cheers for him as he landed back down on the ground.

 _Still plenty more to go._  The changeling huffed, jogging over to the next obstacle, that being several robots raising up from the ground, all of them steel plated and designed to look similar to Robin, but with a huge T planted on their chest.

 _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven..._  Beast Boy counted, eventually counting 11 of the bots staring at him with their blank, red eyes.

Quickly, they had surrounded him, each of them having a metal staff in their hands, and the changeling had to formulate a plan quickly.

However, they didn't give him time to think, as they all began to charge, a few hopping into the air, looking to strike down, while the others ran forward, poles extended above their head.

Again, Beast Boy waited until the last minute, testing his own instincts before diving into the ground as a mole, hearing and feeling the ground vibrate as several of the metal poles slam into the earth.

 _Stay focused.._  He tried to tell himself, unsure if it was just the earth obstructing his sight, but his vision began to get dark.

Launching himself back up from the ground, he quickly turned into a kangaroo, kicking the back of one of the confused bots, launching it into the body of another, both of their eyes soon turning black.

Robin had designed them to power down when having took enough damage, to reinforce the 'No Killing' of the Titans. So while a kangaroo kick to the back may not be enough to keep down most villains they faced, it was enough here.

However, that was only two down, with all nine of the other robots now focusing in on him. Shifting into a tiger now, Beast Boy launched himself at one of the robots, tackling it to the ground, before leaping at the next, incapacitating it.

But the numbers game soon caught up to the changeling, as stinging pain began to run throughout his back as the staffs met their mark on the tiger-turned Beast Boy.

"Come on, BB! Whip their butts!" He could hear Cyborg's encouraging voice yell out at him, and he began to transform once more, his form of a tiger growing into a grizzly, his new body helping absorb the blows as well as just get him more angry as the bots persisted on striking him.

Giant claws slashed through steel, leaving several of the robots laying on the ground with their wiring exposed and torn. They however seemed to learn their lesson, or the remaining ones at least, the three of them left surrounding the bear-turned Beast Boy.

His outstretched claws left him cutting at nothing but air, the training bots taking advantage of the whiffs to land more and more staff blows.

 _Damn it.._  Beast Boy huffed, slowly shifting back into his human form, going down to his knees, panting and gasping for breath as the robots stood over him.

However, before they could land any more hits, their eyes turned from red to white, and they walked away, their shadows looming soon replaced by a more diverse cast.

"That was really impressive, Beast Boy. Within the week, I'm sure you'll be back to normal." Robin's sympathetic voice was the first out of them to speak, a gloved hand reaching down to him.

Beast Boy could only just sigh, grabbing it and letting the strength of his leader help him get back up onto his feet. "Yeah yeah.." The changeling mumbled, can't help but feeling disappointed. "If I had only-"

"No 'if I had only's!" Starfire then interrupted, one of his long fingers digging into his chest sternly.  _Robin seems to be making a big impression on her._  
  


"You did an amazing job, and I am going to refuse to let you be the disappointed in yourself!" She yelled at him, Beast Boy leaning his head back as her voice pierced his eardrums.

A few seconds passed of pure silence, and the Tamarearan just blinked and looked around in confusion.

However, it didn't last long until Beast Boy cracked up, reaching up and patting Starfire on the shoulder. "Ok, ok! I'll admit defeat." The changeling barely got out between his laughs.

Beast Boy was use to the usual 'Stop feeling so sorry for yourself' shtick, however Starfire's intensity in her statement of it all just amused him more than anything, at least after his ears stopped ringing.

"Uh, alright, well I'm going to start cleaning up these bots, some of them don't look repairable though." Cyborg then began to analyze the mess Beast Boy had made, which caused a soft pink tint to cross his cheeks.

"Oh, sorry. Heat of battle and all." The mutant chuckled, scratching the back of his head as he took a look at the laid out robots. A few of them had just been knocked to the ground with the only damage to them being some dirt covering up their pretty details, while others had their chests ripped open with several wires sparkling.

"Don't worry about it, Beast Boy. Cyborg usually destroys all of them per run of the course." Robin shot a jab at the powerhouse of the Titans, sticking his tongue out at him as he turned around to make a comment.

"Make more durable robots then, these things bust if you blow on them!" "You'd know a lot about blowing and their effects." "What is that suppose to mean?!" "You know what it means.." The two bantered back and forth, and it seemed that Robin had joined Cyborg in cleaning up the rubble of the course, leaving Beast Boy and Starfire alone to chuckle about their jibes.

"So... mind flying me to my room?" Beast Boy whispered over towards the Tamaranean, who responded with a look of curiosity. "I thought you liked the boy jokes?"

"I do, but not when I'm soaked in sweat and feel like I'm going to pass out." He chuckled, and thankfully she seemed to get the message from that, taking one of his hands and zooming off with him

It was only a second, but it was probably the most dizziest second of his entire life, seeing as how once the support of Starfire holding onto him was gone, Beast Boy plopped down right next to his bed, excessively blinking to try and stop the hallway from shaking.

"Oh, should I have done the warning? Sorry!" She eeped, kneeling down to comfort the changeling, who just chuckled and waved her off.

"Come on, Star. You know I can't stay mad at you.." He sighed, beginning to stand up once his vision had cleared. Starfire's concern seemed to go away in a flash, instead replaced by her pretty resting face of a wide smile.

 _God, Robin's one lucky dude._  Beast Boy couldn't help but think.

While he may have his eyes on Raven now, no one could deny just how attractive Starfire was, which was helped by her oblivious, yet very charming and nurturing personality.

No one could also deny the connection between her and the Boy Wonder, given how Robin couldn't be within 5 feet of her without a blush on his face, while Starfire, who was protective of all the Titans, seemed to have a special spot for the leader.

 _Something has to be going on between them.._  However, Beast Boy wasn't about to bring any of that up. What he did want to bring up however was still focused on attraction though.

"So Star... can I ask you a few things?" The changeling then asked, a slight frown crossing his face as he thought of the dumbness of the questions he was about to ask, to Starfire of all people.

But Robin... Robin and love just didn't go together. Beast Boy was even convinced that if Starfire never came along, Robin wouldn't even know the definition of a 'crush'. And Cyborg, while he was probably Beast Boy's best friend, would probably tease him relentlessly for what he was about to say.

And Raven... well Raven was the subject manner, and he didn't trust himself to keep the questions subtle enough so that she wouldn't catch on. So that only left...

"Of course, friend. What are these questions you wish to ask me?" Starfire, of course, gratefully accepted, looking as interested as one could be about what her friend was about to ask.

"Well... I kinda got a crush on someone." Beast Boy let out, expecting to have to explain what a 'crush' was, but the Tamaranean's eyes instantly lit up and her feet rapidly bounced on the ground.

"You do?! Oh who is it, you have to tell me!" She said in elation, looking like she was about to explode in excitement before Beast Boy had to calm her down.

_Now how do I tell her it's Raven without her instantly going to tell her?_

Turns out the best way is to just not tell her who it is.

"Uh, I'm not comfortable telling anyone who it is yet, if that's ok with you." He sighed, hoping she'd leave it at that, and while it was clear that she was disappointed in the answer, she didn't try to pry any more information about it out.

"That is quite okay! So what was the question you wanted to ask?" Starfire then insisted however, clasping her hands together.

"Uh... how would you suggest I... tell them?" Beast Boy asked, the tip of his tongue brushing along the insides of his cheeks in anxiety.

The Tamaranean's eyes then began to look around, her fingers tapping against her chin, deep in thought, her heels idly bouncing on the ground.

 _Maybe asking Starfire wasn't the best idea._  Everyone knew Starfire and Robin had a crush on each other, and either haven't done anything with it yet or have kept their relationship enough of a secret that the other Titans wouldn't know.

If Starfire hadn't done anything about her crush, how could Beast Boy expect her to give advice on how to talk about his crush?

"Well... what did you do to tell Terra about your crush with her?" She finally countered with a question of her own, leaving Beast Boy unprepared for a response.

Thinking back, he didn't actually tell her he had a crush on her. He just... made her a gift and asked her out on a date, and from there, everything just went smoothly. Well of course until Slade showed up, but Beast Boy doubted he'd have to deal with that with Raven.

"I didn't tell her anything. I just made her that heart-shaped mirror and asked her out on a date." The changeling answered truthfully, to which Starfire just giggled some in response.

"Why not just do that again, but with your current crush? I'm sure she'll be just as appreciative for the gift!" She then suggested, and Beast Boy could only wish it would be that simple with Raven...

...then again, Raven did promise she and him would go out somewhere once Beast Boy had the whole walking thing down, and while there were a few complications left, walking was just fine. Maybe a gift more suited for what the empath liked and a nice going out could be enough to...

"I... think I'll try that, Star. Thanks." Beast Boy finally conceded with a toothy grin, Starfire looking pleased with herself, clapping her hands in victory.

"Anything else, friend?" She then asked, and the changeling responded with a shake of his head. While talking to Starfire was a pleasant experience, doing so while bruised and soaked in sweat dampened the situation quite a bit, and he could reeeeally use a shower.

\---

After hopping into the shower and changing into a new outfit, Beast Boy spent the rest of the day in his room, thinking of something he could make, or at least buy, to give to Raven before asking her out.

He had gone over what Raven liked, physically at least, to see what he could possibly get for her. _Ear plugs? A new kettle? Maybe a face mask?_

Turns out getting a gift for an empath who stays in their room most of the day and holds all of her emotions in some demonic realm isn't easy.

Terra... her interests weren't out there. Besides for the whole earth bending thing, she wasn't really... different, at least in comparison to Raven. Beast Boy knew she used makeup, so a box to contain her makeup as well as double as a mirror, that was fairly easy to figure out.

Raven on the other hand kept things... natural. Sure, she didn't just get out of bed looking how she did, but she wasn't like most other girls who spent a lot of time, making sure their lashes and eyebrows were perfect.

Which was something to admire in her as well. Raven didn't put in a lot of effort to her look and yet she just looked... stunning. From the smooth gray color of her skin to her perfect bone structure to-

Suddenly, the bleeping sounds of the Tower's sirens interrupted Beast Boy's day-dreaming, and he was somewhat grateful for that, knowing he didn't need to spend another night of fantasizing about Raven.

Rushing outside, he jogged his way over to the main ops room, where everyone else was already waiting.

"So who's the baddy?" The changeling called out over to Robin, who was at the main computer of the Titans, typing away with his masked eyes glued to the screen.

"Looking like the Hivelings again. This time, they're trying to do a jailbreak." The Boy Wonder explained, which just drew a sigh out of Beast Boy.

"Who's in jail right now?" Cyborg asked, to which Robin responded with some more frantic typing.

"Plasmus and Cinderblock are the only real notables, there's also Control Freak, but I doubt they're coming to break him out of all criminals."

"Yeah, Gizmo and him would probably spend more time arguing about which Night Stalker movie was better than actually breaking out of jail." Beast Boy chuckled, imagining the two's whiny voices talking at the same time.  _Ew._

"And since Gizmo is the smarter one, then I'm sure he'd go with Night Stalker 1." Cyborg then said with a devious side-eye in the direction of the changeling.

"Night Stalker 2 is clearly better, dude! The CGI of Night Stalker was much creepier and the actors actually seemed like they gave a-" "Can we not argue about movies when there's a jailbreak going on?" Raven interjected between the two, something she had to do too many times when the two started to talk about movies, and Beast Boy was actually thankful for that.

He and Cyborg could go on for days arguing about movies, and by the time they'd be done, the Hivelings would probably be halfway across the world.

"Thanks, Raven. Beast Boy, do you think you're up for this?" Robin asked the green teen, a look of uncertainty on his face, which was clear as day even behind his signature mask.

And Beast Boy had to think about it. Physically, he felt normal. He didn't feel as though as he was in anyway impaired, but when the combat happened, like earlier in the day, he just got... tired quicker.

Regardless, the Hivelings were breaking out 3 other criminals, one of which they probably weren't meaning to, and thus the Titans were going to need him, if he was at 100% or not.

So, after some careful thinking, he nodded his head, which seemed to satisfy Robin enough, as he began running out of the ops room, quickly followed by Starfire and Raven, leaving Beast Boy and Cyborg alone for a moment.

"Control Freak totally prefers Night Stalker 1!" The changeling spat over at his cybernetic friend, who couldn't look more disgusted at the accusation.

"No way! Control Freak only likes bad movies, and so he'll like Night Stalker 2 more!" "Want to bet on it? Whichever movie Control Freak prefers more the other has to break?" "Totally, no crying when he screams the praises of the sequel!" The two continued to banter, running off to join the other titans.


	7. Emotion

The trip over to the maximum security prison didn't take long, given the limitations on Beast Boy's transformations didn't exclude any of the high speed animals that allowed him to keep up with the others. Starfire was flying overheard, Raven and Cyborg was in the T-Car and Robin was of course in the R-Cycle. Which was a really dumb name for a motorcycle.

Beast Boy had suggested some much cooler and fitting names for it, but each were declined. Apparently 'The Mega-Ultra Titan Cycle' wasn't a better name than 'R-Cycle'.

Once they had gotten there, they found the front half of the prison's gate and fences blasted open, and some prisoners were already trying to run out of them. However, they seemed to know not to mess with the Titans, as seeing the iconic five, they surrendered almost instantly.

"Raven, Cyborg, patch up the fence, make sure these guys can't get out, the rest of us will check for the Hivelings." Robin dished out orders, orders that were met almost immediately. Raven's psychic powers combined with Cyborg's expertise in repair meant that fence would probably get fixed in no time.

The other three then rushed into the broken-down door of the jail, revealing all cells were forcefully opened, and the bodies of police officers were littered throughout the place. Thankfully, none of them were bleeding and just seemed to be incapacitated for the moment.

"Where are they?" Starfire was the first to wonder, her bright green eyes looking around, and even behind and under her. "Probably deeper into this place where Plasmus and Cinderblock are, come on!" Robin quickly answered, running forward, closely followed by Starfire and Beast Boy.

However, a funny sight had caught the attention of the changeling, causing him to stop in his tracks and look at the only unopened cell in the entire place, containing none other than Control Freak.

Small chuckles began to escape the mutant's mouth, looking at the chubby villain, dressed in all orange, sitting boredly on his bed. "They don't like you?" He asked the prisoner, who just frowned and shook his head.

"They uh... ran down that hallway and then went to the left, I think.I heard officers talking about being quiet when they go that way, so it's probably that goo guy." Control Freak surprisingly informed Beast Boy, causing a confused pout to cross the changeling's face. "Hey, if they ain't going to break me out, screw 'em! Kick their butts" He quickly defended himself, causing another chuckle to come out of Beast Boy's mouth.

"Thanks! Oh, by the way, Night Stalker 1 or 2?" The Titan quickly asked the villain, who just let out a large sigh, as if he was waiting for that question all day.

"Oh my god, that's a question? The original Night Stalker was the peak of Berryland Studios, even after their release of Destroying the Earth and Power Guy. The visuals there were STUNNING for a movie as old as it is, and the story holds up so well to this day. Night Stalker 2 just feels really fan-servicey, like they replaced Eric with some dumb bimbo named Penny, retconned every cool power the Night Stalker and gave him the ability to talk for some reason. And the ending, good god, was that a shitshow, they..."

Beast Boy could only take so much nerd ranting, plus he was here to stop bad guys from breaking other bad guys out of prison, not to listen to the nonsensical reasoning for hating such a good movie and loving such a bad one, so the changeling just left Control Freak to continue going on.

Given the fact that he was still talking despite Beast Boy already running off, he was probably still deep into his rant.  _Good, now we can never have to watch that horrid thing during movie nights again._

Managing to catch up, he skidded to turn the corner to the left to see the Hivelings, more specifically, Mammoth running his body into the maximum security door while Gizmo and Jinx were fighting with Robin and Starfire.

 _Here we go.._  Beast Boy transformed into a cheetah, rushing forward, jumping up onto the back of Mammoth, claws digging into those huge muscles. "Ah, what the?!" The giant yelled, reaching his arms back to try and pry the green cat of him.

However, he didn't need to, as a long metal leg swung and knocked the changeling down, sending him back several feet. "Get off him, twerp!" Gizmo's irritating voice ridiculed him, before letting out a screech as Robin threw more birdarangs at him.

Shaking his head, Beast Boy got back up to his feet, only to see the massive villain charging forward, shoulder extended, like he was a football player carrying the ball. Quickly, the changeling shifted down into a squirrel, jumping between the charging Mammoth's legs.

"Oh how I've been wanting to get my hands on you!" Mammoth yelled, cracking his knuckles and gritting his teeth, causing Beast Boy to remember back to when he had almost choked out the villain. Even if he was being a dick, he didn't deserve all that. The punch to the nuts though was heavily satisfying.

Beast Boy was actually going to apologize, however, Mammoth once again went to charge, his loud footsteps and non-stop grunting louder than anything he would say. So, shifting into a mouse, he tried his previous trick, only for the brute to catch on rather quickly, grabbing him before he could jump through his legs.

Huffing, the changeling then shifted into a llama, causing a confused look to cross Mammoth's face before he got a rather large loogie splashed across his face, his hands releasing the Titan as he went to frantically wipe the spit from his eyes.

Shifting now into a billy goat, he ran and rammed into the distracted Hiveling, sending the mountain of muscle into a skidding frenzy on the cool ground. Seeing him not immediately get up once his body had fully stopped, Beast Boy took that as an opportunity to go back to try and help the others.

Thankfully, he turned around when he did, having enough time to duck down to avoid a pink laser from decapitating him. "Aw, you were cuter when you were the goat." Jinx's crude voice mocked the changeling, who took offense to the comment, frowning and furrowing his brows.

"Hey, I'm totally cute! Look at this smile!" Beast Boy defended himself, standing up straight and giving the villain a toothy smile, pointing up to his shining whites while Jinx... didn't look impressed. "Maybe cute to your loser Titans, but not to anyone with half a brain." She coldly remarked, that evil smirk still on her face.

"So I'm cute to you then? Your head looks empty enough for it!" The changeling retorted, immediately after needing to dodge another pink blast. "Ok, I deserved that one." He laughed, only to need to dodge yet again.

"Hey, if that's the comments you make about girls, maybe Terra was right to leave your sorry butt!" Jinx threw out another insult, along with another laser slice that Beast Boy jumped over this time.

The comment about Terra caught him off-guard, but he wasn't going to let a villain like Jinx affect him so easily with a snide comment like that. He had accepted that he and Terra weren't going to work, and was trying to move on. It did still sting to have someone berate him on it though.

"I don't know what she saw in you!" She just continued to add on, keeping on firing those sharp lasers that Beast Boy had to really work to avoid. "Hey, maybe I can show you sometime?" The mutant countered with a bit of a flirt, now beginning to use his shifting to help avoid all the blasts.

Just because he had a crush on Raven doesn't mean he couldn't throw in a sly comment or two towards other chicks. But given Jinx's reaction of just trying to blast him more and more, he could guess she wasn't into him. A shame, since she wasn't that bad-looking.

Thankfully, the barrage of pink bolts was put to an end as an explosion sent Jinx flying sideways, crashing against a wall and letting out a grunt as she slumped to the ground.

"If you're done flirting, we have a bit of a situation over here." Robin's angry voice alerted Beast Boy, pointing over towards the door to Plasmus's cell being blasted open, and soon enough, the giant sludge monster came out, Gizmo right behind him, laughing as menacingly as one could being 3 feet tall and having a baby's head.

"Uh oh.." Starfire then eeped, and turning around, it seemed that the others had forgotten about Mammoth, as now he AND Cinderblock were back, and Jinx was slowly getting back up onto her feet.

"Not really use to being outnumbered, are ya brats?" Mammoth's menacing tone mocked the three, Beast Boy just shaking his head in response. "Not exactly a specialty." There were the Slade bots, but other than that, the Titans usually had the numbers game won. Now? Not so much.

The five had backed up the Titans into the prison yard, a wide and open, grassy space with weight benches, basketball courts and even a sandy track surrounding all the turf.

"Let's even things up, shall we?" Cyborg's voice then interrupted the five's surrounding, a blue beam came into sight, hitting its target directly in the head, that target being Cinderblock. However, the massive rock monster just seemed annoyed, a small grunt escaping its stone mouth as it just rubbed the side of his head, as if it had been bit by a mosquito.

"Maybe not the most optimal target to catch by surprise." Raven informed her cybernetic friend grimly, who looked offended by her observation. "He's the biggest target! We take him down, we win faster!" Cyborg defended himself adamantly and she only replied with a shake of her head.

"Titans, go!" Robin's signature callout then interrupted the 'argument', and suddenly Beast Boy was brought back into the seriousness of the situation. 5 v 5, and each villain the Titans were facing were very capable, unlike some Slade bots.

Splitting up, Starfire was the one who went after Cinderblock, flying over its head and shooting down many starbolts that only seemed to annoy the giant. Cyborg went after Plasmus, making sure to keep his distance and on quick feet as to avoid any sludge or acid shots. Raven was dueling with Gizmo, using her shields to block all of the genius's lasers, and Robin was going hand-to-hand with Jinx. She was already hurt, given the dust on her clothing, but she was giving the Boy Wonder a good fight, expertly blocking his punches and kicks and returning them well.

Which only left...

"Now, where were we?" Mammoth. A right hand sent Beast Boy flying, all the way over onto one of the tracks. "Oh am I going to enjoy this!" The changeling could barely hear the villain's threat, as he was busy shaking the birds away flying in front of his eyes after the blow.

However, Beast Boy had prepared himself to dodge a kick, a punch, something... but Mammoth was just standing a few feet away from him, cracking his neck and flexing his muscles. Shaking his head, the changeling soon got back up onto his feet, his vision soon getting back to normal.

Now was when Mammoth decided to make a move, charging forward, and thanks to all of the time of preparation that he had given Beast Boy, he managed to dodge the tackle rather easily, before transforming into a kangaroo and giving the goliath a kick to the back, staggering him.

"God!" The villain screeched in frustration, pounding a fist into the ground before turning around and swinging a wild punch that Beast Boy was able to duck rather easily.

However, his luck of dodging Mammoth's attacks soon ended, as the mountain of muscle had gotten a hold of his hair, lifting the changeling up to meet him eye to eye. "Now, change into that gorilla thing!" Instead of another blow, it was a... request?

When Beast Boy took too long to respond, he felt a hard knee make contact with his gut, causing him to gasp for air, having his breath forced out of him by the blow, however he could only hang in Mammoth's grasp, the brute refusing to let go of his hair. "Come on, do it!"

"Wait... you want me to be a gorilla?" The changeling huffed, slowly refilling his lungs with oxygen, staring up at the menacing man who was glaring down at him. "Yeah! So I can show you what's up!"

 _Oh_. "Look, if this is about that fight at the police station-" A punch now interrupted Beast Boy, this time across his face, with his scalp being released. The combination of the two sent the mutant crashing to the ground, the sand track cracking open to reveal levels of earth and dirt.

"Do it!"

 _If it'll get you to shut up..._ Beast Boy could only grimace in his head, feeling the side of his face swell up, burning in pain. Closing his eyes, though that was only partially by choice, he focused all he could onto the massive primate, closing his fists, trying to feel the strength of the animal course through him.

Except, all that coursed through him was intense pain, and when the changeling thought he had it, a massive rush of agony ran through his body, causing him to yell in pain and collapse back to the ground.

"Ugh..." Beast Boy coughed, panting and trying to stay as still as he could on the earth as possible. He'd hold onto a hurt body part, but... everything hurt, and it seemed any little bit of movement just made it worse.

He knew the dangers of transforming,  _*or in this case, trying to transform*_  when he wasn't ready. It could be from anything, from stress to physical weakness to even when woken up too early in the morning. It often resulted in lots of pain, and in some drastic cases, broken bones. But just feeling throughout his body, nothing felt out of place or snapped, just extremely, extremely hurt.

A hearty chuckle was heard overhead, and the mutant couldn't help but snarl slightly as none other than Mammoth laughed. "Hah, that's what I thought." He said in triumph, giving Beast Boy a light kick to his side.

"Now, since you seemed to like it when you did it to me..." A huge hand then engulfed the bottom half of Beast Boy's face, covering his nose and mouth. "... let me return the favor."

His eyes widened as he realized just what Mammoth was doing, and he started to struggle, though his weakened state made it difficult to put up any resemble of a fight. He couldn't really morph with the amount of pain he was in and there was no way the changeling was going to overpower the man.

So... Beast Boy tried more unconventional methods.

He tried to lick all over the palm of Mammoth's, however his reaction was more of a disgusted glare rather than anything that would cause a release. He couldn't get a good grip for a bite, and no matter of kicking, punching or twisting could make him get off.

It didn't help that the changeling's consciousness was affected by the blow to his head, and thus it didn't take long until his vision grew blurry and his already weak actions slowed and grew to that of a toddler's strength.

Suddenly, a grip on his face loosened, and Beast Boy could just barely note of Mammoth struggling against something, and as he began to regain his sight, he noticed the black tentacle wrapped around the villain's throat.

"Release him or I will snap your neck!" Raven's uncharacteristic and demonic roar sent a rush of both dread and relief throughout the changeling's body, and peeking up only amplified that dread. She had grown another pair of eyes, all four of them a blood red, and she had risen from the ground, levitating on a wave of black energy.

He had seen her in this state once before, during a battle with Dr. Light, but that was when her father's manifestation was in her mind and her emotions were on edge, why was it back now?

Thankfully, it seemed that Mammoth had a bit of sense, as his hand was lifted from the Titan's mouth, allowing Beast Boy to gasp and gulp in as much air as he could. "Okay, okay... I did it... now let me go!" It didn't take an empath to know that the usually headstrong behemoth was scared, his voice dripping with fear and maybe even some regret.

A few seconds passed, and it seemed that Raven was undecided about actually letting Mammoth go. Her quadruple eyes staring a hole into the massive man who was reduced to a shaking sag of muscle, who's life was in the hands of a pissed off demon.

Finally, the tentacle launched Mammoth into one of the weight benches, a barbell landing on his chest, causing a gasp to come out of his mouths, and he could only roll over onto his stomach to relieve the pain.

"You ok?" Raven's normal voice then asked him, seeing the pretty hooded girl stand over him now.

"Eh, think I'll make it." The changeling sighed in response, giving her a toothy grin, as if trying to hide the real pain that he was in.

However, he was never the best actor, and Raven being an empath could easily detect something was wrong, lifting Beast Boy back up to his feet and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Let's not take any risks."

"Risking our lives is our job, Rae." He retorted playfully, grateful in having something, or someone in this case, to lean against. "Not unnecessary risks." She was quick to point out and he chuckled softly. "Where's the fun in that?"

A gentle smirk crossed Raven's face and Beast Boy felt a wave of joy rush over him, seeing the usually emotionless woman seem so... comfortable around him.

"Hey Raven.." He began to speak up, a soft blush crossing his face. Here we go.. "You think we could-" Suddenly, the changeling felt her hands shove against his ribs, forcing him down onto the warm grassy ground. He had managed to get his hands out to protect his head from hitting the floor, but a shot of pain still went out through his torso after they landed.

A crashing sound rattled Beast Boy's ears, and the next thing he knew, he saw the half-demon laying on the ground not far from him, unmoving. "Raven!" He shouted, ignoring the screaming pain in his body and crawling over towards her. "Raven, you okay?" His desperate voice pleaded, lifting her head up with his hands.

She was breathing, but her eyes were closed, and after tugging back her hood, Beast Boy could feel... blood on the back of her head. Looking over towards the fighting Titans, Cyborg was keeping Cinderblock busy, while Starfire flew over the head of Plasmus and Robin had to entertain both Jinx and Gizmo.  _If it wasn't one of them, then who...?_

"Oops, sorry BB. Meant to hit you both there!" A voice mocked him, sending a bolt of rage through him. Turning his head, his eyes caught the ever too familiar flowing blonde hair of... "Terra!" His bitter voice called the name of his former friend, as she stood several yards away, a chunk of earth beneath her as she stood on a sizeable stone.

And it seems that his call caught the attention of the others, the idle noises of explosions and crashes soon stopping and a few voices spoke from behind him.

"Well, looks like we're done here!" Gizmo's annoying voice said, using a grappling hook to latch onto both Jinx and the laid out Mammoth before jetpacking out of the place. And quite frankly, Beast Boy didn't care. All his attention now was on the blonde-haired traitor who looked... downright evil with that smirk on her face.

"Aw, don't tell me you're mad at me, Beast Boy!" Terra continued to mock him, causing Beast Boy to feel his blood boil.  _What had Slade done to her.._  This was not the girl he had fallen head over heels for. The look in her eye was of cockiness and sinister intentions rather than the sweet and caring gaze that he longed for before.

There was a deep layer of sadness, seeing the woman that he thought he could love seem so cruel and out of reach now. A part of him wanted her back, and another part of him wanted to destroy her, his fists twitching, itching to unleash his rage somehow.

"Titans, retreat!" Robin's callout didn't help him out, turning around to see Robin use his grappling hook to zip up onto one of the fences of the yard, hopping over and out. He was bruised, along with a tear in his precious cape, and looking at the others, they weren't better off.

"I got her!" Starfire told the changeling, flying over to both him and Raven, with her soft hands slowly grasping the back of the unconscious empath. And Beast Boy was reluctant to let her go, his fingers running through her hair which was beginning to get stained in blood. Looking up, he gave the Tamaranean a conflicted face. He obviously wanted Raven to get help, but it felt like if he let her go, she'd pass in an instant. He wanted to keep her safe, but there was no way he could do it in the condition he was in. And in the end, logic won and she was relinquished over to Starfire, who gave him a caring look before soaring up out of the prison, the half-demon cradled in her arms.

"Alright BB, can you transform?" Cyborg now was the one to speak to him, using his sonic cannon to hold back Plasmus and Cinderblock.

With a small grunt, Beast Boy slowly stood back up onto his feet, nodding his head. He was in a lot of pain, but a single transforming to just get out of the place shouldn't be that bad. "Think you can do a velociraptor or something that can carry me?"

However, before Beast Boy could answer, the changeling had to duck out of the way of a boulder thrown their way. "Beast Boy, don't leave me yet! I'm still heartbroken over the last time!" Terra once again mocked him, who was panting at this point, trying his best to not respond back.  _She won't get the satisfaction._

And thankfully, it seemed that Cyborg wasn't taking part of any of it either, firing another sonic cannon shot at Plasmus before grabbing the mutant's hand and running off towards the interior of the prison, Beast Boy running as best as he could to not be dragged across the ground.

Their run didn't last long though, as a lift in the ground tripped the two up, a groan escaping Beast Boy's lips. "Sorry Cy, but this doesn't involve you!" A chunk of earth then came flying overhead, crashing into his robotic friend.

It didn't do much, with only dirt and a small crack in one of Cyborg's arms being the notable damage on him, however, it caused enough distance to be widened between him and his shapeshifting friend for more earth to rise up from the ground, blocking off the two from each other.

"Beast Boy!" The changeling could hear his friend's cry from within the jail, the mound of earth acting as an unbreakable door between the two, and turning around, Beast Boy was trapped with two goliaths and one sour ex-girlfriend.

 _Shit._  He growled in his head, seeing Terra fly up on her stone, while Plasmus and Cinderblock closed the distance between them and the shapeshifter.

Plasmus was the first to shoot out a batch of sludge from its gaped mouth, and Beast Boy had to transform into a cheetah to run out of the way. The result was him being left untouched by the vile goo, but more screaming pain running throughout his body that he'd just have to fight through.

With Terra flying overhead, the exits barred, and two foes that he couldn't beat alone, let alone together, Beast Boy wasn't an idiot. Pressing the button on his belt, a loud beeping noise followed, the center of the mostly decorative belt began to flash a golden yellow.  _Hopefully Rob and Star get that.._

On each of the Titans' gear, there was an emergency button on them, to signal danger when they were separated and couldn't use their communicator. It alerted everyone within the Teen Titans, the alarm and flashing similar to that of the Tower's security system. And even behind a wall of soil, Beast Boy could hear Cyborg's alert going off faintly.

Now he had to play the stalling game, to try and dodge around for as long as he could until someone came to help him get out of there. But with three opponents versus him, that would be difficult.

Another gallon of sludge was soon shot at him, and the changeling had to hurt himself further to dodge the attack, another transformation leading to more pain. But now Cinderblock was running after him, his thunderous steps shaking the ground beneath Beast Boy.

And that just meant more running. Cinderblock was fast for a 20 foot monster of rock, but as fast as a cheetah? Running around the track, he managed to avoid the wrath of the concrete structure, however a pool of acid forced him to halt to avoid melting his feet. That just helped close the distance between him and Cinderblock,

Thankfully, his instincts had decided not to leave him in his most dire of needs, and he was able to shift into a hawk and flap his wings out of the way of the monster's outreached hands. Several pebbles were shot his way, and he had to rely on his instincts once more to dodge them. Gazing his beady eyes up towards the blonde haired girl, it was no surprise she was the one shooting the rocks at him.

Feeling a jolt of both anger and sorrow at seeing her, Beast Boy knew he had to get up there, and that's what he was going to do. Flapping his wings once more, he flew as fast as he could, while also maneuvering his way around sharp rocks and pebbles being shot at him. And it wasn't like his dodging was perfect, the changeling could feel his skin be cut by the blade-like edges of the stones and some of the more blunt projectiles whack against his head and chest.

Soon, with many cuts and bruises acquired, Beast Boy made it up to Terra's location, shifting back into his human form and grabbing onto the stone she was stood on. His gaze was shaking with the amount of pain raking through his body, and his grip was just barely strong enough to hold onto the rock.

"Terra, stop!" He yelled, staring up at her as she looked back down at him. "Why are you doing this?!"

For a few seconds, Beast Boy swore he saw some regret and sympathy in her eyes, a frown crossing her face, and for a split moment, he saw a smile on her face, like the one she so shyly hid from him during their date and the one that made his heart race.

However, that smile evaporated too quickly, returning to a scowl and a cold gaze that contained as much contempt and arrogance that Slade's single eye held. "You really are helpless." Terra taunted him to his horror, another rock floating over to her, to which she stepped on and mockingly waved at her former friend.

And like that, the stone that he was holding onto lost its levitation, beginning to plummet to the ground, while Beast Boy could only scream in fear as the grass soon got closer and closer, and he could only hope for his demise to be as painless as possible.

A flash of orange and purple came before his eyes, and it took a bit for the changeling to realize that he was no longer falling, but instead just gliding in the sky. The grass was replaced with several blurry buildings, and he could feel a tight squeezing of his wrist.

"Hello friend!" Starfire greeted him as she flew him through the air, the wave of relief running through Beast Boy just as strong as the wind blowing against him as the Tamareanan flew him through the air.

That relief didn't last for long, as soon as they gotten to the Tower, Beast Boy remembered Raven and her unconscious state, which she was still in. Robin had speculated she was in some sort of healing state, given her body naturally floating on the hospital bed.

That however didn't help the changeling much, who was sat next to the levitating empath. Bandages were wrapped around her head, closing the wound beneath her hair, while every other part of her body was left untouched. Her cloak was taken off for the sake of analyzing if she was hurt anywhere else, and Beast Boy felt... almost dirty in a way for seeing her without it on.

It was such a rare occurrence to see her with her hood down, let alone with her cloak entirely off. And that just made the situation worse. Raven rarely let down her hood, and when it was down, it was usually during the early mornings and any comment about her hair was met with harsh comments in return. Any other time, it wasn't by choice and she was usually embarrassed by it.

He didn't exactly understand why, but he didn't question it. That wasn't for him to do. He had previously seen her with her hood down when he was first waking up from his coma, and the changeling was stunned by it. He loved the way she looked, so calm and beautiful, along with his shaken-up head, he didn't realize just what an oddity it was, for her to be comfortable enough around him to let her hood down.

But now, it wasn't her choice, her cloak was shed from her unconscious body, and while Beast Boy couldn't deny her in just her leotard was a pretty sight, it still felt... erotic and wrong.

However, he just couldn't leave her side. Cyborg had insisted on getting him some medical care for the left side of his face being swollen, along with various little cuts on his cheeks, chin and arms, but Beast Boy knew that would just draw him away from Raven and he wasn't going to put himself through that.

He couldn't see them, but Beast Boy knew his knuckles were colorless beneath his gloves as he tightly squeezed the armrest of the bed, watching the empath's stomach slowly rise for a few seconds, before falling back down to flatten her torso once more. A few gentle footsteps were heard beside him, but the changeling didn't bother glancing up to see who it was.

"Beast Boy... you really should get to bed." Cyborg's voice wasn't the loud and boisterous ear-blasting noise that Beast Boy was use to. It was quiet and almost similar to that of a father talking to a son. Though he wouldn't exactly know much about that given his past.

"Or at least let me take a look at you. We don't want your wounds to get infected, or else you're gonna be cramped in here for a while." His robotic friend continued, and Beast boy had to hold back a comment about not minding that, since it would give him an excuse to stay near Raven. Not that he should need one.  _What was wrong with being concerned over a teammate?_

But, he wasn't stupid, and a loud sigh escaped his gaped mouth and he stepped back, sitting himself down on a hospital bed right next to Raven's, and Cyborg took that as him conceding to let his injuries be looked at.

As he felt the metal hands gently examining his cuts, Beast Boy was slightly annoyed by the fact that Cyborg's large body was blocking his view of the half-demon, and given how any attempt to move his head to try and get a look was met with a firm grip on his head, jolting him back to stare at Cyborg's chest.

"Alright, these little things shouldn't be any issue, bandage them up and you should be fine. As for the swelling here-" A robotic finger pointed at the bloated cheek of the changeling's, causing a hiss to escape his clamped teeth. "-Sorry, but yeah, some ice and time inside should do the trick."

Cyborg then walked to one of the cabinets in the sick bay, letting Beast Boy once more look at the levitating body of his crush, and he didn't know if he felt better or worse better of it. Being able to see her relieved him some, but being able to see her in her state was also heart-wrenching, knowing he couldn't do anything to help her.

"Here, I got the band-aids. Why don't you come out with me while I get you some ice? We can watch a movie or two together." The cybernetic hero suggested, and the changeling was so grateful he was in his life.

Cyborg was as close to a brother and even a father figure in his life right now, and while the two argued on occasion, Beast Boy couldn't really ask for a better friend. A small smile crossed his face for a moment, but one glance back at Raven instantly brought his mood back down. He didn't want to just camp out in the sick bay, worrying over things out of his control, but he felt as though Raven would pass if he took her out of his sight.

In the end, Beast Boy reluctantly nodded his head to the offer, standing up and taking the box of bandages that Cyborg was holding. Opening up the package, he pulled out several of the little stickers, giving the empath one last longing gaze before leaving the sick bay.

"Don't worry, man. Raven's one tough and stubborn girl, she'll be fine." Cyborg said comfortably, given the changeling a pat on the back.

_If only it was so easy to believe..._

Starfire was nowhere to be seen, probably catching up on her beauty sleep, while Robin was sitting at the dining table, idly tapping his fingers on the stand. He was missing his signature cape, probably because it was torn up, along with a few bandages wrapped around his arms. A scowl was on his face, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

Robin hated to lose. Underneath that rugged and sharp mask of his, he was a competitor. Both in rather minimal things like video games and cooking, and in combat. He didn't stay down unless physically forced to very often, and it was even rarer he called a retreat. And in both cases, the Boy Wonder lost his temper afterwards.

Self-deprecation was the most common reaction of his to defeat, but it wasn't rare for him to lash out at the others, especially if he noticed any sort of mistake they made during the battle. It was one of the very few situations that Beast Boy could recall where Robin actually got angry at Starfire.

Usually the others wouldn't see him for a day or two afterwards as he sulked in his room, going over everything that went wrong and how to correct it during the next encounter. And after that, it was a bunch of exercise drills. The changeling couldn't quite understand how Robin could endure everything he put himself through, with all the physical labor he put himself through. Maybe it was because he was still young or low metabolism, but with how much exercise the Boy Wonder does, it was a surprise he wasn't jacked to the gills and actually remained only toned with a 4-pack at best.

Regardless, it was just the boys in the main ops room, and Beast Boy gave Robin a small glance before entering the kitchen, getting out a ziplock bag before opening up the freezer and grabbing several handfuls of ice. Cyborg had went over to a drawer with a bunch of unsorted movies underneath their TV, scrolling through the many selections while whistling an unknown song to himself.

"Can we talk?" Robin's voice crossed over from the dining area to Beast Boy in the kitchen, and a prick of annoyance crossed his green features at the level of sternness in his voice.  _Here comes a lecture._

Filling up his bag in ice and zipping it up, Beast Boy reluctantly walked over to the dining table, sitting opposite of Robin and giving him a rather bland face as he held up the bag of frozen water to his cheek. A small hiss of pain crossed his face as the cold surface mixed with the warm pain in his face to create an odd sensation that hurt for a few seconds before it slowly eased down.

Using his shoulder to keep the bag on his cheek, Beast Boy then began to lay down some band-aids on his cuts, not even bothering to look up at the face of Boy Wonder, knowing he was staring a hole through him, even behind his signature mask of his.

"How are you feeling?"

That was a surprising first question that actually peeked the changeling's interest, glancing upward at his leader. "Not great, half my face feels like it's melting off, I got like a million little cuts and my body aches like crazy." He answered honestly, the former sidekick giving him a small frown.

"And mentally?"

Beast Boy raised a brow at the second question, his gaze now fully focused on Robin's face when he asked him. And quite frankly, it wasn't really comforting. Seemed more like someone trying to pry information out of a crime suspect than a friend looking out for another. And here he thought his leader was actually concerned for him. Silly Beast Boy.

"Worse." The changeling bluntly put it, now returning his focus on applying his band-aids, not even giving Robin the respect of looking him in the eye to gauge his reaction before going back to his task.

An audible sigh escaped the Boy Wonder's mouth, the tapping sound of his fingers frantically dancing along the wooden table increasing. "You think you can tell me what happened back there?" He was clearly losing any of the patience that he had, Beast Boy not even needing to look up to know that the vein on his forehead was throbbing visibly and a hard grimace crossed his face.

"Nothing worth mentioning." Now the mutant was starting to lie, hoping that it would get Robin off of his ass, but unfortunately it didn't.

"Clearly something happened, Beast Boy. Cyborg mentioned Terra trapping you in the jail yard, and you had to use your emergency call. Lucky Starfire was able to get back to you or else you could've ended up in a much worse state."

Beast Boy couldn't pinpoint why, but the mention of Terra, after he had thought he was able to move on, felt like a stab to the chest, his gloved fist pounding down onto the table. He thought he was over her, and yet just hearing her name sent a wave of emotion, mainly rage and sorrow, through him. "I got hurt and couldn't get out in time, so I tried to fight my way out and I'm sure Cy and Star told you all about how I handled that." He growled, looking back up to meet Robin's glare.

"And that's why I'm trying to help you, Beast Boy. Slade is up to something with you, and we need to figure out why. That's why you need to tell us anything you know." The masked leader insisted, which sounded a bit more genuine, but his face remained rather angered, and given his last statements, Beast Boy had little reason to believe he was now deciding to be sympathetic.

"Trying to help me or trying to fuel your obsession with Slade?" He coldly countered, before speaking up once more before he could get yelled at further. "To answer your question, I got my ass kicked by Mammoth, then Raven had to save me, which put her in a position to get hurt. After I got trapped, I ran around, avoiding stone man and glob man until Starfire came to help me."

If Robin was bothered by Beast Boy's Slade comment, he didn't show it, at least in terms of words. The look on his face didn't change, his brows were still furrowed and his mouth was curved downward into a frown.

"And why didn't you... get out of there earlier?"

"Retreat, you mean?" The changeling deadpanned, licking one of the peach-colored stickers before pinning it down onto a cut on his chin, watching the Boy Wonder shudder at the word, as if simply uttering the word caused a cold breeze to blow against his pale skin.

"I was hurt, Mammoth wanted me to be a gorilla for some sort of redemption from the police station incident. I tried to shift into a gorilla because, well, he was kicking my butt. And it didn't work out, and so I couldn't really transform to get out of there." He explained plainly, fishing his fingers into the box of bandages.

A hard sigh escaped Robin's mouth, a hand reaching up to cup his forehead, as if a hard migraine shot through his head. "Beast Boy, you know you couldn't have done that. You were barely able to be a bear!" An exasperated voice spoke down to the mutant, which only annoyed him further.

"What was I suppose to do? Let him beat me up until I couldn't transform anyhow? It was my only chance at actually taking him." He explained, impatiently dumping the rest of the bandaids onto the table, picking out a few to stick to the wounds on his cheeks.

"Well either way, I think I'm going to forbid you going on missions until your transformations are at 100%. I don't want to risk that again." Robin ordered, "It was dumb of me to allow you to come with us to the prison when you couldn't even complete an obstacle course."

Beast Boy snarled in response, one of his pointy fangs jutting out of his mouth. How dare he talk down to him like that? "Again? Do you not know who we are? We're the Teen Titans, and right now, we're down a member!" The changeling snapped, standing up and leaning over the table.

And it was true, no one knew how long Raven was going to be out. Hours? Days? Weeks? They need him!

"This is for your own safety, Beast Boy. Not only are your limited transformations a danger to yourself, but to others." The leader tried to explain, however the pulsing anger running through Beast Boy's head was too strong for him to try and find any reason with the Boy Wonder. "Cyborg, Starfire and I will be able to handle things until you two get better."

Beast Boy had trouble keeping his breath under control, angered huffs and grunts flowing through his flared nostrils. "This is about Slade, isn't it? You don't think I can protect myself against him, and so you want to treat me like a child so you can hog all of his attention to yourself!" He accused the former sidekick, which seemed to strike a nerve with Robin, who stood up in return to meet the changeling's glare.

"Damnit Beast Boy, this isn't about what I think of you! You are not in good shape already, combined with Slade using Terra-" The sound of wood cracking and crumbling interrupted Robin's explanation.

The table that separated the two had been broken in half, with the mutant's fists burning in pain. A pile of bandaids and the bag of ice that was propped up to his cheek fell into the wreckage, acting as almost a barrier between the two.

Splinters had pierced his gloves and stuck out of his hands like a porcupine's spines. Beast Boy didn't even know he was that strong to smash the dining stand like that, but right now, that was the furthest thing from his mind. "Don't mention her!"

"BB, calm down man!" Cyborg then interrupted the two, the large robotic teen stepping in between the two, metal hands raised in case either of the two went to blows.

"I know it sucks bro, but Robin is only looking out for you in his own way." He slowly explained, attempting to cool off his green friend, which was only met with an angered snort. "...no matter how dumb his explanations are."

"Beast Boy... whatever is going on, I want to help, you just need to trust me." Robin added, ignoring the jibe from Cyborg, which didn't help in the slightest, it only pissed Beast Boy off even more.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you! Red X ring a bell?" The changeling spat, his chest now pressing against the metallic hand of the peacekeeper, and the Boy Wonder did the same.

"That was a mistake! I was stupid and I'm sorry for that!" Robin insisted, "But like you said, we're the Titans, we got to trust each other! And you need to trust me that I'm doing what's best for you!"

More and more angered huffs were blown out of Beast Boy's flared nostrils, and his hands were squeezing down tight into fists. The changeling DID trust Robin, but right now? All he was seeing was red, and he needed something to vent out his frustration.

He was tempted to take out his frustration on his leader, a good smacking would deal him some good and teach him to loosen up on him, right? But while those thoughts were appealing, they also disgusted him. Why would he want to beat up his friend?

So, with a sigh, Beast Boy turned tail and walked out of the main ops room, leaving the two other Titans to talk among themselves, and thankfully he couldn't hear any footsteps behind him.

Stomping through the several hallways, he didn't have any certain place in mind, in fact, his mind couldn't find any place that would be appropriate to unleash his anger on.

Except for one. They weren't using it anyway, and its mere existence suddenly angered Beast Boy beyond any reasoning.

Terra's room.

He walked his way over to the barred up room, several planks nailed to the frame of the door, on top of a 'DO NOT ENTER' sign stuck to the wooden bars as well. Judging by how the nails looked almost a bit rusty, they hadn't been removed ever since they were pinned there the day Beast Boy had returned from the carnival.

 _So much for renovation_. That was the excuse given to him by Robin, but what did he take him for? Some sort of idiot? Maybe it would've hurt less to see the planks on the door if he was told the truth, that the room was closed off so Beast Boy couldn't get more hurt by the memories of the place, but it was too late for that now.

Digging his finger into the planks, his muscles rippled and with a hard tug, the wood was torn from the door frame, nails dancing along the ground before eventually settling down, pointing upward and sure to give anyone who walked through the hallway a sharp pain in their foot.

Beast Boy didn't care though, he just kept tugging the planks from the wall until all of them were littered on the floor, leaving all that was between him and the interior of his former friend's room was the door.

Simply trying to open it however didn't work, and the changeling mentally slapped himself. Of course they'd lock it. However, that just meant he'd have to use more brute force, and that's exactly what he was going to use.

Backing up from the door until his back was pressed against the wall opposite of the barrier to the room, Beast Boy took a deep breath and charged forward, shoulder raised.

It would make sense to transform into something that would make the door easier to break, but in his current crazed state, that was far from his mind. His head was filled with all sorts of negative emotion, sweat was soaking his face and neck and he felt the need to vent.

The first attempt to break open the door, using only his skinny frame didn't work. But that wasn't going to deter the mutant, as he simply stepped back once more, ignoring the screaming pain in his shoulder and ramming himself into the locked door once more.

Second time was the charm, the door swinging open from its hinges, letting Beast Boy enter. Instantly, a wave of memories struck him as he looked at the pretty night-themed walls of the room. He had been the one to suggest how they set up her room.

It was based on the canyon they first found.... her in, but with the cool blue color of the sky replaced with an ocean blue, speckled with plenty of stars and a wide and shining moon on the ceiling.

The changeling had spent his fair deal of time setting up the wallpaper, being able to be an octopus letting him cover most of the walls while Robin, Cyborg and Starfire moved in all the furniture.

It was such a pleasant memory, casually chatting with his teammates as they worked to make the room the best it could be for their new friend. And that just made him even angrier. Any sort of memory that even slightly involved her was now nothing more than a depressing thought that would stick inside his mind like glue.

It was getting better as the days went on, Beast Boy even recalled smiling sometimes when thinking of her, but now... hearing her mock him, seeing Raven get knocked out because of her, trying to kill him...

He started with the wallpaper, digging his fingers into the pretty decoration and tearing it, exposing the gray walls. Constant ripping and slashing was all that followed, filling the room up with the sound of paper being shredded, his hands thankfully protected by his gloves.

Soon enough, all of the gray walls were exposed, most of the peach and blue wallpaper littered across the carpeted ground. And yet Beast Boy wasn't nearly satisfied, in fact, he didn't think he'd ever be satisfied. She would forever taint his memories, has forced both him and Raven into the medical bay for who knows how long, and all while being the lackey for one of the sinister villains he has ever come across in Slade.

How would she react if she could see what Beast Boy was doing? Sad? Scared? Angry? Maybe even happy, given her newfound twisted personality, which was a far cry from the shy, yet sweet and caring girl he had-

A hand instinctively came up to slap himself across the face, interrupting his thoughts. "Shut up!" He yelled at himself, ignoring his cheek stinging in pain as he moved onto something else to destroy.

This time, it would be her bed. It was queen-sized, with fluffy beige pillows and a thick red-velvet blanket. Raven had been the one to choose those out, making Beast boy hope she used some of that swell taste for her own room. Black and gray was... nice, but it felt creepy when that was all that filled up your living space.

Walking up to the abandoned bed, his strong nose picked up a rather familiar and painful scent.  _Terra._  While the smell was faint at this point, given the time that has passed from when she betrayed the Titans, it felt like he was drowning in it, the scent almost hypnotic in a way.

Beast Boy almost forgot why he was even leaning over her sheets for a second, imagining her petite body laying beneath the covers, snoring away peacefully after a long day of crime-fighting. Maybe she dreamed of him sometime?

However, despite his gaze growing blurry in his tears as all those pleasant memories were forced back into his mind, the mutant wasn't going to get deterred. He wanted to be ANGRY, not sad.

Which was why he crawled under the bed, getting to the middle of the frame before taking a big breath. His rage made him not even think of the absurdity of what he was about to do. Beast Boy was never the strongest guy around, his slim arms and torso not being able to put on much weight, and not even needing the strength given his almost limitless list of animals that he could transform into.

But it seemed that he didn't even need any of that, squatting down as his hands began to push upward on the bed frame above him. A few seconds persisted of little movement, however, with a bit more willpower and pushing down with his legs as well, one half of the bed was lifted from the ground.

Beast Boy then shoved the frame, the bottom legs of the bed grunting against the carpet as they were pushed forward. The wafting smell of her assaulted his senses, but he did the best he could to ignore it as soon enough, he felt some resistance in his path.

Pushing upward, a final shove was given to the frame, using most of the strength the changeling could summon to push the bed through one of the bedroom windows. So much so that he almost fell out of the window himself, landing on shards of glass that broke when the queen-sized bed was pushed through it.

The sirens of the tower immediately set off when the window shattered, but Beast Boy didn't pay attention to that, watching the velvet sheets and the cream pillows, along with the wooden bed frame crash into the stone below from several stories high, crashing and breaking on impact.

"Beast Boy!" The yelling noise was almost that of a whisper to the mutant, his head racing with so many emotions that he couldn't pinpoint as he stared down at the shattered bedframe and the littered decoratives. "You're hurt.."

It was Starfire, her voice shaking in fear as Beast Boy could faintly hear the footsteps approach him. It was only when she pointed it out did he notice his hands and knees being pierced with several shards of glass and a particularly nasty gash was across his arm, one of the sharp pieces of glass still hanging on the wall dripping with blood and some of the gray fabric of his suit.

Blood was running down his elbow, either staining the sleeve of his top or littering scarlet red drops onto the carpeted ground below him. It wasn't too deep, but the bleeding didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon and the stinging pain of his sweat dripping down into the wound was getting irritating.

"Let me help you.." The Tamareanan's soft tone was almost too quiet for the changeling to hear, and it came as a surprise when her hand was placed on his shoulder, causing him to jump and instinctively move away.

"Get away..." He was barely to get out of his mouth, pushing her orange hand away before standing up, ignoring the pain in his knees as he frantically looked around for more he could unleash his anger on.

He was disappointed to find almost nothing more in the room. They had kept the room almost completely empty, save for the bed, leaving it up to Terra to decorate if she so chose, and it seemed like she decided not to.  _She didn't stay long anyway.._

However, a shining object laying on the ground caught Beast Boy's interest. It was the heart-shaped mirror he had made her. It was last left on the foot of her bed, which meant it probably fell off when he pushed it initially.

Walking up, the changeling reached a hand down to grasp the homemade box, lifting up the glass cover to reveal the contents of her signature comb and communicator inside. There was also a letter in there, but Raven had incinerated it when she got her hands on it.

Beast Boy had spent hours, making sure the thing was perfect for her. He had stayed in his room, going through so much labor just to make a little mirror that she didn't even keep for a night. In fact, it was the gift that he gave her the night he asked her out on a date, when he thought he actually had something, but of course life had to make sure that didn't happen.

Now, it was just a reminder of what a failure he was. How he was so stupid to fall in love with some pretty-faced chick that turned out to want to destroy him and his friends. How he did so much just to make sure she was comfortable and yet she tossed him away like nothing.

"Beast Boy, please.. Let me get you to the medical room." Starfire was now pleading with him, but the changeling wasn't having any of it, using one hand to hold back the alien while the other was used to throw the heart-shaped box right out of the window.

However, Beast Boy immediately regretted his actions as soon as the gift left his fingertips. He frantically reached to try to right the wrong of tossing the suddenly beloved object, but his incredibly fast instincts wouldn't save him now, and the heart-shaped gift plummeted out of the tower, crashing down onto the hard stone below and breaking into several pieces.

Or at least, he could only assume, seeing the metal box fall out of sight while the strong Tamearanean's arms held him back from trying to dive out of the window to retrieve it. Hearing a small crashing noise was all Beast Boy needed to hear to drop to his knees and slam a fist to the ground.

"Damnit!" Beast Boy groaned, pressing his forehead against the carpeted floor, digging his fingers into his sweat-coated hair. Why did he have to grow so attached to her? He wanted to be angry with her, to rid himself of anything that reminded him of her, and yet when he did...

Tears stung his eyes, and he could feel the drops running down his cheeks, mixing with his sweat and dribbling down, off of his face and staining the red carpet below him. A soft breeze blew against his side, and looking up, he saw his friend standing over him. "Friend... I'm sorry.." Starfire's gentle whisper serenaded him, pouting as he saw the orange-skinned girl holding several metal pieces, holding tiny shards of glass within them.

"Was this our previous friend's?" She then asked, her gaze wide and motherly, shining in concern for her friend. A small bit of Beast Boy appreciated that Starfire decided to not reference... her by name, but it still hurt, knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"I... made it for her." The changeling confessed, using his non-blood stained sleeve to wipe his nose, sniffling up snot as he was practically cradling himself in a ball. "Well it was... a very pretty gift you made. Maybe we can fix it?"

Keyword there was 'Was'. A solemn shake of his head was all he used to answer her, closing his eyes to try and hide his shame, as if she couldn't see the extent of how hurt he was. "Turn off the alarm..." Beast Boy could faintly hear the voice of his strong leader, and slitting his eyes, he saw Robin address Cyborg before beginning to walk forward.

 _Right... the alarm._  The loud beeping noise was drowned out by the mutant, but now that it was brought back to his attention, it only furthered his shame. How mad must his friend be, to see him rolled up into a ball, crying over a little box with a huge gash in his arm and the room they were in completely destroyed...

Thankfully for him, Robin didn't talk to him, only exchanging whispers with Starfire, and while Beast Boy wasn't a great lip-reader, it was clear as day what the Boy Wonder was inquiring about.  _"Why is Beast Boy acting so fucking stupid?"_  maybe?

Suddenly, excruciating agony shot through his head, causing a scream to escape Beast Boy's mouth. If he wasn't already on the ground, he'd be forced down, his entire body feeling as heavy as a boulder and opening his eyes was instantly met with blackness closing in from the corners of his sight.

From what he briefly saw, Robin was kneeling over him while Starfire had stepped back, looking frightened as her hands were clasped together just under her chin. "Beast Boy! Beast Boy!" The changeling's name was yelled at him, however, the voices were soon drowned out by the horrid pain inside his skull, and soon enough, similar suffering ran through the rest of his body.

His muscles screamed as Beast Boy felt them expand, the ripping of his suit just barely heard over his own agony. He suddenly felt parched, throat as dry as sand, his mouth gaping and tongue lolling out, silently begging for water. And similarly, he was starving. His body was shaking rapidly, stomach roaring in need for nutrition and it felt like anything in his belly would soon be vomited out as waves of nausea raked through him.

Soon enough, Beast Boy didn't even any the luxury of sight, darkness fully enveloping his gaze and the screeching pain that caused it all soon halting. He could still twitch his muscles, though only somewhat, and his hearing was still there, and with the torture in his body slowly subsiding, he could hear his friends' panicked tones.

"Beast Boy..." Robin's faint voice was in awe, gentle footsteps slowly going further and further away.  _No... please.._  He tried to cry out, only to find that he couldn't hear himself, as if he was in a dream.  _Am I dying..?_

He could feel a cool breeze blowing against him, but rather than feeling the fabric of his suit stick to his skin, it was something much more... hairy, protecting his body from the wind. He was... standing up, feeling his toes sink into the fuzziness of the carpet below even though Beast Boy never recalled even moving from his rolled-up ball.

However, his senses began to shut down, the subtle noises of the room quieting down, and his body began to go numb, from head to toe. The last thing Beast Boy heard before fully falling into the void was a thunderous roar, like a mighty lion, and much more scary, the screech of Starfire.


	8. Interrogation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last of the upload dump for this fic.
> 
> Also mentions of sexual assault/rape are below, so if you're sensitive to that, yeah.

Slowly, Beast Boy felt himself regain consciousness, just barely being able to tell the difference between the natural darkness behind his eyelids and the forced blackout of his sight from being knocked out. Following that was a screeching pain in his head, forcing the changeling to lift up a hand to his forehead.

Or at least, he tried to, only to feel cold steel restricting any sort of movement in his hands. Panicking, he forced his eyes open, only to find himself in a dark room that seemed like a place where a serial killer would take their victims to torture them.

Beast Boy could just make out a pane of glass to his left, and in front of him, there was a table with some sorts of papers on them, as well as needles, bags and scalpels.  _Where am I..._  He shuddered, looking down to see his wrists were forced down to the arms of a chair by metal restraints, and a few seconds of trying to escape the clutches of the steel only resulted into some more wrist pain and a hurt ego.

His feet were also restricted, and getting a good look at himself, he was just barely clothed. No shirt, no pants, no shoes or gloves. Instead, a simple pair of light blue underwear was all that was on him, and judging by the sack the fabric sagged down onto the steel seat, they were a few sizes too big for him, meaning they were for certain not his.

The sound of locks clicking and the swinging of a door in front of him caught Beast Boy's attention however, and in came Robin. In his left hand looked to be some photos, but the changeling couldn't make out what exactly they were of. In his right, his famous bo staff.

"Alright Beast Boy, spill it!" The Boy Wonder spat at him, approaching the table in front of the mutant and leaning over it. Beast Boy noticed then that he was also out of uniform. He didn't have a shirt on, instead, several bandages were wrapped around his chest and stomach. Thankfully his pants and utility belt remained on, as well as his gloves, shoes and mask.

The changeling could only blink in confusion, trying to think if he heard his leader correctly. "I... what's going on, Robin? Where am I?" Beast Boy asked, seeing Robin gave the changeling a bit of comfort, but given the angered look on his face and the fact that he was questioning him made more much more nervous then relieved.

"We're in the Interrogation Room, Beast Boy. Robin has kept it on a down-low for a bit now." A staticy tone then spoke, and he was able to pinpoint a speaker in the one of the corners of the room. But even with the static, Beast Boy could easily tell it was Cyborg.

"That's not important. Beast Boy, what the hell happened last night?" Robin growled, slamming the stack of photographs he had onto the table and seating himself down opposite of the changeling. "You mean... with the jailfight or.."

"You really don't remember?" The Boy Wonder questioned, and thinking back, Beast Boy could faintly remember what he had did in Terra's room.  _Right, that._  "I was upset after our argument, so I went to vent my frustrations somewhere where I didn't think the damages would be that big of a deal, so I went to Terra's room."

A heavy sigh escaped Robin's gaped mouth, his fist shaking as it was placed down on the table. "Beast Boy, after that. What did you do with Starfire?" The question enticed a gulp out of the changeling, his body heating up and his throat tightened up. The last thing he remembered was Starfire's scream of terror, that didn't mean...

"Is she ok? Where is she?" Beast Boy practically begged, not being able to live with himself if he ever did something to someone so innocent and sweet like Starfire.

The question however seemed to offend Robin, as he slammed his fist onto the table. "Answer the question!" He yelled, shocking the mutant as he could only wiggle in his seat in fear. Closing his eyes, he tried his best to remember anything past her scream, maybe a small glimpse of... well, anything... "I... I don't know."

That just pissed off the leader even more, and he stood up from his seat, grabbing the stack of photos on the table and slamming them down in front of Beast Boy. "You took her from the Tower, transformed into some sort of beast. You know something, Beast Boy, and you better talk!"

Instinctively shrinking down as the Boy Wonder spat his demands down at him, the changeling nervously glanced down at the photos to see what he was talking about. A massive green monster was the centerpiece of the pictures, like a werewolf out of folklore, with its wolf-like appearance, and yet it was so much bigger, with huge claws, sharp teeth, and it stood on two feet.

In its teeth was... Starfire. Her orange hair was locked in the... beast's jaws, either hanging lifelessly in its grasp or panicking and pleading. "No..." Beast Boy gasped, his breath accelerating and sweat beginning to run down his face. He wouldn't hurt Starfire, no way would he...

"Every news station in Jump City saw you take away Starfire! The story is all over the news, and it won't take long until they figure out that that beast is you, and we'll have no choice but to surrender you to the police!" Robin persisted, a hand gripping down onto the exposed shoulder of the mutant, "Now tell me, what did you do to her?"

Beast Boy tried all he could to remember, concentrating all he could on what happened beyond that cry. More and more pain shot through his head as his hands gripped the armrests, eyes tightly squeezed. And unfortunately, nothing about Starfire came to mind, instead the image of a rather familiar face standing in front of him.

"Gizmo.. I remember him, then.." Another memory shot into his head, a bright red light flashing before his eyes that even hurt his eyes remembering it. "Bright red light.." Finally, a rather... enticing feeling that tied his stomach in knots and made his loins tighten. And that's what scared Beast Boy the most. "And.. I think I remember feeling... aroused. I don't know what-"

A punch across the face halted his answer, his head whipping back, feeling the steel chair prevent him from falling back and his restraints from protecting himself. Shaking his head, Beast Boy blinked up at Robin, who's scowl turned into a horrified frown as the Boy Wonder stood over him, his right hand tightened into a fist and shaking while the other was gripping the back of the chair the changeling was tied to.

"Robin, calm it man!" Cyborg came jogging in, grabbing the Boy Wonder by the shoulder and tugging him back a few steps. "I'll talk to him, you go see Star.." He whispered to the regretful leader, who nodded his head in response and lowered his head. "Beast Boy, I'm sorry... we'll get this figured out." Robin sighed, running his gloved hands through his jet-black hair, which was uncharacteristically flat against the top of his head rather than slicked straight up with excessive amounts of hair gel.

He then turned and walked out of the room, an audible banging noise following the closing of the door, enticing a guilty frown to cross the changeling's face. "You alright?" Cyborg gently asked, running a metal finger along the area where Robin's hand made contact, causing little more than a soft moan out of his mouth.

In comparison to his internal pain, mostly in his head, the punch felt more like a soft breeze. And what hurt the most about it was the fact that Robin was slighted enough to even hit him in the first place. Though Beast Boy couldn't really get mad at him, after all, the mutant had slapped him across the face atop the tower several weeks ago, plus all the property damage...

"Is there anything you want to ask me before I start asking you stuff?" Cyborg asked, walking to the other side of the table seating himself down, taking a few brief moments to look through everything that was on it before gazing back up at his friend with his singular human eye.

"How's Starfire?" Beast Boy instantly asked, stretching his fingers and toes anxiously, poking at the insides of his cheeks with his tongue. What did he do to her...

"Fine actually. When me and Robin found you two, she was completely unharmed, while you seemed to have a few new bruises." The half-robot answered, a small smirk crossing his human features for a split second before continuing. "She's up in her room right now, trying to process everything that just happened since, well, she doesn't remember much of the incident either."

A wave of relief crashed into the changeling, and his body slouched down into his seat as much of his anxiety eased its way out of him. However it didn't last long, as there was still many questions he wanted to ask. "Speaking of which, what did happen last night? Last thing I remember was... Starfire's scream." Was Beast Boy's next question, shuddering as the memory shot through his mind once more.

A long sigh escaped Cyborg's mouth, "Well, Robin and I were downstairs in the main ops room, discussing how we could help you out, from different sorts of training regimes to therapy sessions. The League has a few connections to those who can deal with mental issues, but before we could come to any sort of conclusion, we heard the alarm go off."

Beast Boy just shrugged, the Justice League's only real connection to the Teen Titans was Robin, and even then, the connection was very small. In fact, the changeling always felt that the League saw the quintuple as little more than a 'little league' rather than a superhero team in their own right, given how they never communicated with them unless it's to talk with Robin about the condition of Jump City.  _Would it kill them to have someone visit once?_

"So, we came up there to see you bleeding on the ground while Starfire was in near hysterics, window busted open and the room a complete mess." Cyborg continued onward, looking surprised himself at the bluntness of his own words, but the mutant couldn't exactly blame him for being upset. "Robin told me to go down to shut off the alarm since there wasn't a break-in like we thought and while I was going downstairs, I heard Star's scream."

The mere mention of it raked at Beast Boy's heart, the tip of his tongue sticking out the corner of his lips. "By the time I got back up there, Robin was laid out with some nasty gashes on his chest, and I saw a giant green beast running across the water with Star in its jaws. Once Rob filled me in, I got him to the med bay and patched him up, and then went out searching for where you went."

"And how long did it take?" The changeling inquired, idly tapping his fingers against the armrest, his restraints thankfully not strong enough for his hands to lose feeling. "5-6 hours I believe. Stubborn Robin joining in the search made it easier even though his torso was nearly torn in half an hour prior. You two were in the sewers, Starfire was unconscious while you were taking a nap. It seems whatever you shifted into, it kept your love for crashing out." Cyborg chuckled softly, looking down at the table. "Made it simple enough to get Star out of harm's reach and then capture you."

The changeling raised a brow, seeing Cyborg turn from serious to joking rather quickly. While the half-robot was certainly a joker, this wasn't a situation he'd make jokes in. And seeing as how the single human eye on his friend was avoiding his direct gaze, that only confirmed something was up.

"And what is it you aren't telling me?" Beast Boy challenged, his brow furrowing and a frown crossing his lips. He knew Robin cared for Starfire, but his actions didn't seem like him, even in his nastiest of states. Punching a man who couldn't defend himself? That wasn't his style. "What did I do?"

A few seconds passed of silence, the African man's pink tongue slipping out of his mouth and wettening his lips, metal fingers fishing around the papers on the table, as if pretending he didn't hear the question. However, a brief look upward to see Beast Boy's hardened gaze firmly on him seemed to break any sort of resistance Cyborg had.

"Star's clothes were torn off of her. She was naked when we found her. We just figured it was because of her fighting back, but a quick examination showed no signs of her fighting, given a lack of wounds." He reluctantly explained, giving his friend enough respect to look him in the eye as he spoke. "Me and Robin tried to think of some other reason it could be, but with you being in a bestial state that seems to be feral, along with you saying you had feelings of arousal..." His voice trailed off, but Beast Boy knew exactly what he was implying.

"Oh god, no.." The changeling whispered, looking down at his lap, his fingers pressing into his armrests as his tearbuds began to sting. He... forced himself onto Starfire? "We don't know for sure yet, since I haven't been able to... fully examine her to see if there are any signs. It could just be a coincidence, BB." Cyborg's attempts to comfort him were falling on deaf ears, his mind was too filled up with guilt, regret and self-deprecation to hear anything remotely positive or encouraging.

"What's happening to me..?" Beast Boy practically sobbed, trying to hold back his tears since he couldn't even hide them behind his hands given his restraints. "Well, not to try and pile on the bad news, but I was able to run some more blood tests on you."

"Your DNA has always been unstable, since you can transform into a billion species. But now, it's all sorts of fucked up. When the League first heard of you, they didn't think you'd live very long, because they suspect your messed-up DNA and that would end up overwhelming your human body and killing you." Cyborg explained, a hard frown on his face, though it wasn't anything Beast Boy hadn't heard before. How could a human withstand so many shifts in genetics, mind, body and, well, DNA like Cyborg said? He just figured he'd live the best life he could, and whatever happened... just happened.

"This could be your body getting overwhelmed. You're losing control of your transformations and becoming more feral. It may just kill you." His cybernetic friend finished, bringing up a metal hand to rub his chin. "Though that's just a theory, BB, this could be because of a million different things."

Beast Boy only raised his brows in semi-amusement as the tears began running down his cheeks. Whatever was happening to him, he hated it, and the implication that death was the worst thing that could happen to him didn't seem that bad in the right now.

Getting a closer look at Cyborg, it seemed that capturing him wasn't as easy as he thought, given a large set of claw marks was on his chest, and thinking back at it, he did sorta hobble into the room.  _Would you guys just stop lying to me?_  The changeling understood why they would lie to him about the severity of the situation, but it just hurt more to find out about it after they told him the lies.

"So what now? Am I stuck here until you guys figure out what's up with me?" Beast Boy questioned, blinking away some of his tears and leaning his head back against the seat.

"Nah. We aren't going to treat you like a prisoner. Robin said we'd maybe keep you here a bit longer if you weren't cooperative for further questioning, but I think I'm going to overrule that." Cyborg chuckled, his red eye glinting in the small amount of light in the room. "But I do have to ask, do you remember anything else?"

Seeing how his freedom was locked behind a final question, the mutant decided to take the bullet and close his eyes, trying his hardest to remember anything, anything at all. His head began to screech as his mind couldn't come up with anything Beast Boy didn't already know.

A horrid stench filled his nostrils, the taste of something vile filled his mouth and, in contrast, something beautiful ran over his eyes.

"Sewage... blood... Jinx..."

"Well you were found in a sewer, so that explains the sewage. And I think we can safely conclude that you encountered the Hivelings while you were out, given you also recalled Gizmo. But blood? Neither you or Starfire were found with any blood on you." Cyborg thought out loud, already walking his way over to the changeling, where he could see that signature boot of his replaced with a metallic skeleton of a foot.

The strain on his wrists however soon subsided, and he instantly jolted his hands up, nearly smacking himself in the face in the process. A pleasured sigh escaped his mouth as he massaged his wrists, soon followed up by his fingers rubbing his released ankles, and Beast Boy soon sprung up to his feet where Cyborg gently chuckled at his reaction.

"Alright, let's get you something to eat, must be starving." He suggested, wrapping a huge arm around her shoulders and dragging him out of the room, Beast Boy not even minding his feet near tripping over each other as he was lead out of the interrogation room that was hidden in the evidence room, and down several corridors into the main ops room.

"So, the usual, bacon, eggs and milk?" A loud, teasing voice was yelled over at him as the changeling took note of their lack of a dining table, and it confused him for a moment before he took a look down at his hands to see the cuts on them caused by his violent dismantling of the stand.  _Right._

Deciding instead to chill out on the couch, not that he deserved it of course, Beast Boy began to walk over to the U-shaped furniture when the hissing sound of one of the doors interrupted him and he saw the scary sight of Robin and Starfire together.

Said sight distracted him just enough for him to lose his footing and trip over his own heel, face-planting onto the rugged floor of the room. Shaking his head and glancing upward toward the two new entrants, the rough feeling of the carpet against his almost naked body suddenly made him feel hot, especially since all eyes of the room were now on him.

"Oh, Beast Boy, are you okay?" Starfire was the first to speak, zipping over towards the fallen mutant and pulling him straight up onto his feet, despite Robin's objection. And he didn't blame him, if he did... 'hurt' Starfire, then he should have no business being within a city block of her. "Uh.. yeah." He answered awkwardly, quickly dusting off his nose, instinctively tilting his torso away from the Tamaranean.

A few seconds of silence passed before someone spoke up once more, and that happened to be Beast Boy, and he found himself instantly regretting the words he stupidly spew. "Are you?"

Looking at the bright woman, she seemed perplexed by his question, those wide emerald orbs of hers silently asking him for expand further. But before he could, the Boy Wonder intervened, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her back a step. "Let's get you something to eat." His stern voice sounded more like an order than a suggestion, and Starfire didn't protest, offering a small glance and smile at Beast Boy before following her crush over to the kitchen.

A pout crossed the changeling's face, his grief soon expanding inside him further, and seeing the three others instantly strike up a conversation while Cyborg was on the oven, Robin was grabbing a loaf of bread and Starfire was picking out a succulent bottle of mustard from the fridge, any sort of optimism he previously had for the day vanished.

He just decided it would be better off if they didn't see him for the rest of the day, venturing off into his room and locking the door behind him. Finally, some peace and quiet and his mind could fully wrap around what the fuck happened.

It all started out as anger towards Terra. Anger that he had felt in the past towards her, but could never maintain for more than a hour. He always cried and cried not even 10 minutes after declaring himself to be over 'that traitor bitch' as he so eloquently put it once. Maybe if he was actually able to vent this anger of his, he could hold onto it and the situation wouldn't de-escalate into some mopefest where he was highly self-deprecating.

And it was like that, he was wrecking the walls, her furniture, the windows... but he just had to pick up that hand-made mirror of hers, the only thing left in his possession that truly made him feel something for her. During the early days, everything in the Tower reminded him of Terra, but as time went on, not even her signature comb could entice much of a reaction out of him.

To destroy that stupid little box... maybe that could be his escape from that wretched grief? Well, he couldn't have been more wrong. Destroying it only made him feel even sadder, possibly the saddest he ever was over her. And of course, that led to him cutting his arm open and the others thinking intruders had broken into the Tower.

Beast Boy had suddenly felt sick. He felt like a scalpel dug into his skull through his scalp and was stabbing away at his brain. All of his senses were impaired, except for pain, and his thirst and hunger increased to the point where he dry-heaved on the ground, in desperate need for any nutrition that would sate him.

And then... nothing. He felt like he was asleep, except he was still aware of everything that was around him. He couldn't see, but his hearing was still there to a point, and made him hear the horrid scream of Starfire's that still haunted his mind.

_What the fuck happened..._

Shaking his head, Beast Boy hopped into bed and turned on his TV. Trying to think of things he had no knowledge of would just hurt his head further and he need some distraction. Maybe some Mega Ninjas would calm him down. However, one of the news channels he scrolled past caught his interest, flashing a familiar name on screen.

"Channel 26 News here, it is being reported that former business owner and convicted felon, Earl Drummond, has been found murdered in his car." A middle-aged brunette reported, the headline below her reading "Earl Drummond Murdered". It hit the changeling like a brick. The animal lab guy was now dead, the only guy who knew why Slade and Terra had led him to that lab was gone.

"It was unknown who the murderer is or what their motive was, but in a quote by Sheriff Lawrence, 'It was an absolute blood bath. Several giant gashes all across his body and face, he was probably dead 20x over. His car was also leveled by something, we don't know what, since it was found in the middle of the road with the entire front half of the vehicle push inward.' Terrifying stuff. Many suspect already that this killing is most likely related to the giant beast that was running free last night with Teen Titan Starfire in its teeth, since Drummond's wounds seem too unnatural for this to be the work of any normal human."

Beast Boy's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he heard the reporter go on, seemingly not sparing any detail while keeping a straight face, like it was all run-of-the-mill. "Oh my god.." He thought out loud, blinking several times as he processed what he heard.

He had hated Earl the second he had heard of him, since animal testing and experimentation was just glorified torture and the fact that this man owned a business dedicated to doing such things made his blood boil. But to kill him? Beast Boy would never...

Then again, he never thought he'd mortally wound Robin and kidnap Starfire either and yet here he was.

A previous thought entered his mind, and realization struck him. Blood. It was his blood.

Beast Boy had killed Earl, and now not only did he have kidnapping on his crimelist, but also murder. Sure, he probably conspired with Slade and tortured animals, but... he didn't deserve that. Killing was an absolute last resort, and the skinny business man couldn't pose a threat even remotely close to the changeling needing to resort to that.

And if it isn't true that he was working for Slade, then... he just murdered an innocent man.

His breath accelerated and his fingers dug into his grass green scalp, but the voice of the reporter speaking up once more caught his attention and he glanced upward to see she was joined by an African man with a burly beard.

"So Nicolas, this whole beast situation, is this a new super villain that was reached Jump City, or perhaps a familiar face we haven't named yet?" The woman spoke, quickly prompting the other to speak. "Oh, I think it's just too highly coincidental that this big monster thing was running around with a Teen Titan in its jaws while also being as green as that other Titan, Beast Boy I believe."

"I mean, name one other hero, villain or neutral party that has the power to transform into all these animals, while also being green. I'm saying that it's Beast Boy for sure. Why would he target.. Starfire I believe? Maybe she shot down a date request? Experimentation gone wrong? I don't know, but I think it's just too likely that one of our protectors has turned rogue."

Beast Boy couldn't have been paler. He had been told the news was reporting, but he didn't think he'd be this early that people found out it was him who was the savage beast running through the streets. What would happen? Protestors outside the Tower, demanding his head? He'd be exiled? Maybe put down for good to prevent him from hurting anyone ever again?

"When we asked Robin, former sidekick of superhero Batman and leader of the Teen Titans, what he knew of the situation, he told us that they had tracked down the beast and apprehended him. He has also stated that Starfire, the Titan who was kidnapped, was unharmed and this beast wouldn't strike out again."

"Yeah, I just don't believe that. Police say the beast isn't in custody and the Titans bring all their villains and criminals straight to them, so either this beast is a highly special case or Robin is lying through his teeth and trying to protect his teammate." The male reporter interrupted the other which just struck Beast Boy harder and he just couldn't take it anymore, slamming down on the power button of his TV, shutting it off just as it seemed the reporter was going to go on another rant.

 _I need to rest._  Even though he had just woken up from unconsciousness, the changeling laid back in his bed, forcing his eyes shut and curling up into a ball, trying his best to get himself to sleep, to try and escape this nightmare going on.

A few light knocking noises however prevented that, and he couldn't help but grunt in an unappreciative manner. "Go away." He huffed at whoever was disturbing him, burying his face in his pillow. Of course they'd come and check on him, why couldn't they just-

"Beast Boy?" A soft voice interrupted his thoughts, causing Beast Boy to instantly jump out of bed.

_Raven!_

He wasn't expecting her to be up so quickly, but he wasn't going to complain, quickly opening up the door to see the gray empath, a confused look on her face, dressed in her usual leotard and cloak, hood down to expose her short violet hair. Her eyes sparkled in interest and her thin lips were pursed, making him feel a bit bad for telling her off at first. Either she had cleaned up before coming over or she just looked that hot getting out of bed, because the changeling had to blink his eyes to break the daze she inadvertently put him in.

"Raven... sorry sorry, come in.." Beast Boy welcomed her inside, showing off an unusually tidy room. It had just been a day ago when he had decided to clean up after himself, and with the jailfight and the whole... beast thing, he never had a chance to mess it back up.

Raven also seemed to notice, perking a brow as her pupils traveled along the room, surprised her feet were actually touching the ground and not stepping on various junk food wrappers or comic books. "Robin told me about what happened last night. Thought I'd come by." She explained her presence, as if she needed to. Anytime she wanted to actually come into his room was a good one, though the reasoning given did make him uneasy.

"You transformed into some sort of beast creature?" The empath questioned, sitting down onto the green-sheeted bed, and Beast Boy followed suit, a few inches separating their thighs from touching each other, and he had to hold his breath when one of her pale hands closed the distance, so close to rubbing up against his bare leg.

"Right... that." He sighed, letting out a sigh. "Yeah, was just really emotional and... it kinda came out. I don't remember pretty much anything from when I was in that state." He explained, scratching the back of his neck, hoping she wouldn't notice the soft tint of pink on his cheeks and how much he was leaving out.

But of course, her being an empath and all meant she could easily read his uneasiness. "I heard. Lashed out at Robin and kidnapped Starfire before Cyborg managed to track you down. Lucky enough that was the extent of damage done. Also why you are in Robin's underwear." Raven followed suit, and a hard exhale through his nose was all Beast Boy did in response.  _Yeah, and the rape and murder._

"Cyborg told me you remembered... very little. The Hivelings... a red light... sewage.. And blood. Anything else?" She continued, tilting her head as she looked into the eyes of the changeling, and he had to try his hardest to remain as calm as he could.  _Cy left out the arousal part?_  Because he didn't want Raven to know just how poor of a friend Beast Boy was?

"Um.." Should he tell her? Beast Boy felt almost obligated to. After all, if he was this girl nabber now, some warning to the only other girl in the Tower would be nice. But... looking into the gorgeous amethyst eyes of the half-demon, he couldn't find it in himself to inform her further. She'd shut him off as some gross monster rapist and he'd have to deal with this all alone. Plus, there was a chance it was nothing, and in that case, why tell her of something so insignificant and damage their relationship?

"Pretty much, yeah." The changeling forced out of his mouth, keeping his gaze steady in his best attempt to sell the lie, and he gave himself an imaginary fist-bump when Raven just nodded her head and looked away. Letting a few seconds of silence pass, Beast Boy then decided to switch the subject.

"So... back at the prison-" "I got caught off-guard." Raven quickly answered, a small snort of amusement escaping his nostrils at just how fast she was to defend herself. "My powers were drained after I saved you so I wasn't able to get out a shield in time. That's why I pushed you to the ground."

Beast Boy responded with a nod of the head, a chuckle soon escaping his lips. "Probably the nicest reason you've given me for why you pushed me." The mutant joked, earning a roll of the eyes from the empath. "Speaking of which... how did you get like that again? I thought in in your mind, we beat that evil part out of you." He then asked, remembering back when he, Cyborg and Raven defeated a manifestation of her rage that took on the form of her own father, Trigon. It threatened to overtake her completely when Raven was able to banish it out of her mind for good.

"What we defeated in Nevermore was a manifestation of my father that was trying to take control of me. We managed to defeat it, but his demon blood will always be inside of me, and thus that form of me will always exist whenever I get... upset enough." The Azarathian carefully explained, like a teacher explaining a math problem to an elementary schooler, and Beast Boy was secretly thankful for that, even though it made him feel dumb.

"That explains how... but why?" His next question seemed to catch Raven off-guard, a cough escaping her lips and her eyes blinking several times in surprise. Even a small tint of red crossed the bridge of her nose, and just like that, the cool room of the changeling's suddenly seemed extremely hot.

The pea-green boy then shook his head, "Uh, nevermind. You don't have-" Beast Boy was cut off by a heavy sigh from the empath, drawing her hood over her head and hiding a lot of her face. "If I tell you this, can you promise me you won't tell anyone or tease me about it?"

Now it was Beast Boy's turn to be embarrassed, his cheeks feeling hot and his stomach feeling tied up. "Of course, Rae. Scout's honor." He held up a hand to his forehead as a salute, similar to a boy scout, and a small huff came from Raven's nostrils. "Alright, I'm trusting you here. Don't interrupt me either until I'm done." She instructed, and the changeling didn't even think before nodding, too curious now to not comply.

"Because I care for you."

Beast Boy coughed in surprise, only causing him to choke on his own spit and needing to hack some more before the saliva was able to freely slide down his throat. A frown crossed the empath's face, and he could already tell she was beginning to regret this conversation. "Sorry, sorry, proceed.."

"I do really care for you, Beast Boy. For all of you. You've given me something I don't think I can ever repay you for. A loving home and constant reassurance that I can get through anything I go through." She continued, her frown disappearing off of her face as she stared at the roof of the room.

"Of course, it is our job and privilege to get 'our butts kicked', as you'd say, by bad guys. I've seen you get thrown across all sorts of rooms and streets, I thought I'd be immune to it by now. But I'm not. It hurts me just the same as it hurts you." Her gorgeous gaze then lowered back to Beast Boy's wide and curious eyes, who was completely entranced by what she was saying.

"You don't deserve any of it. You're an annoying, insufferable kid who doesn't know what personal space is and has a million horrid jokes stuck in your brain and yet I can barely stand to see you get hit because you are one of the most pure people I've come across. That's especially why you don't deserve Terra."

That struck him hard, the mention of Terra instantly flooded his mind in bad memories, including her being the whole reason that... beast form of his came out.

"I-" "This whole thing, you shouldn't have to go through. You were just being your good old self to a girl who seemed uneasy by every little thing and now you've got a mountain of problems on your back." Raven interrupted the changeling, forcing him to keep his trap shut until she was finished.

"You immediately trusted her, without needing her to say a word to you. There wasn't a moment where you didn't try to make her feel welcome or protected. I can't count how many times she nearly killed herself, and while the rest of us ran, you were always the one to run back in to save her. You didn't care about the risk for someone you had met days ago, you just wanted her to be safe. Looking back at it now, you may call it dumb or stupid considering what she is now, but you went through so much turmoil, just for her to be safe. That's noble, no matter the case."

"That's why I lost control. Seeing Mammoth hunched over you, suffocating you because of something you did that you couldn't control? After being in a near month long coma because that  _ **traitor**_  manipulated you and tried to murder you? After all you did for her? A part of me thought she was just misunderstood, a little girl who was too gullible for their own good, but seeing you get assaulted by Slade while she watched... the vile things she did to get you to trust her, taking advantage of just how much you trust in others and  _ **violating**_  you like that? It all just built up and I couldn't take it!" She finished her explanation, turning into a rant by the end of it, expression turning from saddened to angered.

And it seemed her anger was starting to affect the room, a stankball rising from the ground shrouded in darkness, along with several action figures on the floor. After a few seconds, the lightbulb on Beast Boy's lamp shattered in a bunch of pieces, and even the bed they were sitting on began to shake.

"Raven, stop!" Beast Boy shouted, grasping Raven's shoulders and giving her a shake, to which she blinked her eyes in disbelief, as if not knowing what she was just doing, before seeing the shards of glass laid on his dresser. She inhaled a deep breath and then sighed, leaning her body forward into the slim frame of the changeling, who didn't hesitate in hugging the empath as everything around her returned to normal.

His fingers gently stroked along her upper spine, letting her bury her face in his shoulder as he attempted to comfort her in soft hushes. "I got you.."

After a few seconds, Raven pulled herself away, tugging her hood closer around her face, but not before the changeling could get a look at her red-tinted face. That didn't stop her from silently thanking the grass-green teen with a genuine smile crossing her gorgeous features before returning to her usual emotionless pout.

"Thanks for telling me that... I didn't know." He finally said, taking a moment to process what exactly she had just told him. Beast Boy knew she liked him, but... like that? He would've lost that bet for sure. Maybe his feelings for her weren't that crazy then.

But also just listening to her talk about Terra, it was interesting to see it from her perspective. Raven didn't trust easy, and yet here's some petite blonde with uncontrollable power over the Earth just walking herself into the Tower and acting like one of the family. It took a ton of time for Raven to seem like she trusted the newcomer, as even when the geomancer returned with seemingly complete control over her power and a newfound knack for kicking bad guy butt, the empath still didn't trust her.

Only when she had given it all she had to save the Tower from sinking underground did Beast Boy think that Raven began to trust her, swearing he heard the two of them giggling together on more than one occasion. And to have all that trust ripped apart when she betrayed them, not to mention the recent targeting of the changeling... he never really thought of how it would affect Raven, to have that hard-earned trust shattered by someone she considered a friend.

"Beast Boy.." She then whispered, looking back up at him with those shadowed eyes, and yet Beast Boy could still make up the pretty amethyst-colored orbs that were hidden in there. "I want to help you go through whatever this is."

The changeling raised a brow in confusion for a split moment, before realizing what she was referring to. "Oh, it's okay Rae, you don't have to-" "Ra _ven_  first of all, and secondly, I'm offering this to you because I want to." Raven made sure to cut off Beast Boy's protests, who was getting a bit worked up over the constant interruptions, but since it was Raven, he could let it slide.

"Your power, as I'll call it, seems to rely on your emotional state. The more emotional you get, the closer you get to the Beast. Which is why I want to help you. With your power being emotionally-powered, I think you could join me in my meditations." She then proposed, much to the surprise of the mutant, who sat there wide-eyed and mouth gaped.

"I know you don't like the medicine Cyborg gives you and since I still kinda owe you that meditation session with Star, I figured we could try out a session and see how that helps?" It was clear her patience was beginning to run thin, given a once shy face turned into an irritated one, and the changeling quickly pushed his mouth back up so it wasn't unnaturally hanging from his face.

"Uh, sure thing Rae!" Beast Boy quickly answered afterwards, chuckling a bit at his own awkwardness, while the empath just gave him a hard glare before standing up.

"Hey, wait!" He reached out to her, stopping her dead in her tracks as she was making a bit of a beeline towards the door. "Don't you... owe me something else? I'm up and walking now, aren't I?" The changeling asked with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows, causing Raven to narrow her eyes at him before catching onto what he was saying and a pout crossed her features.

"Was kinda hoping you forgot about that." She droned, which hurt Beast Boy to hear until he noticed a subtle smirk on her face. "We'll kill two birds with one stone then, we can go out somewhere quiet to meditate and then we'll go and... do whatever you want to do. Though nothing major." She sternly declared, but it didn't matter to the mutant, who couldn't hide his excitement and just barely managed to avoid bashing the top of his head against the upper bunk-bed.

However, a hard look remained on Raven's face, eyes narrowed as she stared at her friend. "We'll go in two days, around 1PM. It'll be Monday, so not many civilians will be around." She told him, her hand now on the handle of the door. "And don't tell the others about this, I don't want them to get the wrong idea about this."

And like that, the door to his room opened up and she floated out, leaving Beast Boy's emotions completely mixed on how to feel. For one, he was going out _(AS FRIENDS)_  with Raven, who was actually willing! Many times the Titans would drag a clearly reluctant Raven along with their trips, but here, she was setting the times and dates for the damned thing!

But, she also didn't seem that happy about it. That sour look on her face almost made it seem like she'd rather do anything else, but her voice... it sounded painful in more ways than one. Painful in that it was something she wasn't exactly looking forward to and... there was something else there that the changeling couldn't exactly put a finger on.

And, a part of Beast Boy felt like he was lying to his friend. Felt like? He  _ **was**_  lying to her! He had murdered a man and potentially violated his teammate and yet here he was, acting like the incident was as a big of a deal as a stubbed toe! If she were to ever find out...

The changeling needed a break from reality, and sunk his body back into his bed, and only when he felt the cool feeling of his sheets pressing against his skin did he realize his attire for talking with Raven. Nothing but a pair of oversized boxers!

Shaking his head, Beast Boy dove under the covers and sunk his face into the softness of his pillow to try and hide his embarrassment from the world, letting his body slowly shut down to rest, ignoring the shooting pain running through his head.

 _This is going to work out._  He promised to himself before sleep enveloped his sight.


End file.
